Stiliyan Petrov wasn’t happy with Callum McGregor after his costly Glasgow Derby error for Celtic this afternoon.
The Hoops were embarrassed in pathetic fashion at Ibrox this afternoon. Indeed, a 4-1 loss in Govan rounded off a full campaign without a win over our rivals. If anything sums up our 10-in-a-row push, it’s that fact alone.
However, the tone was set early on by McGregor. He picked up two ridiculously naive yellow cards within the first half hour and found himself sent off. That meant that Celtic played the vast majority of the game with 10 men, and absolutely no chance of a result.
And Petrov couldn’t believe McGregor’s early bath as he hit out at the Celtic man. Speaking on Sky Sports [Sky Sports Main Event, 02/05, 12:51], Petrov said: “No complaints at all. I thought the first one – Ryan Kent has been really lively. But Callum McGregor, you have to do better, especially for the second one, don’t dive in.
“You’re one of the experienced players – stay on your feet. It’s not a situation that you have to really dive in. But it’s just the momentum that carried him on for it [the red card].”
McGregor failed to play a Celtic captain’s role at Ibrox
This was a game in which we needed players like McGregor to show their leadership skills. Prove that you have what it takes to succeed Scott Brown and become our next captain.
Unfortunately, he did anything but. He showed extreme naivety to pick up two early and needless yellow cards. You can’t even have a go at referee Nick Walsh either – they were stonewall bookings and McGregor only has himself to blame.
For the first one, he’s far too aggressive on Kent, who was hardly in on goal. Make him do something instead of fouling him and picking up a silly booking. Surely McGregor, with a player of his experience, should know this. He refused, and instead just went charging into the Rangers man to win a booking.
The second was even dafter and more bemusing. He was already on a yellow, yet saw no reason not to throw himself into the challenge with Glen Kamara. Surprise surprise, he was second to it and ended up being sent off. That there and then killed this game as a contest – it was going to be hard enough with 11 men.
McGregor let us down badly today. If Eddie Howe or whoever the future Celtic manager is was watching, he won’t have been impressed. It certainly doesn’t do McGregor’s chances of being the next Celtic captain any favours.
The sooner we see the back of this season, the better. It’s been a total nightmare from start to finish.
In other news, we take a look at three things we learned from this afternoon’s match.
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