Callum McGregor’s comments about Celtic needing five or six wins from the rest of the season have drawn some fan criticism.
There’s no denying that it’s slightly disheartening to hear a club captain speaking in such self-limiting terms, but that doesn’t mean that his words were wrong.
It’s already likely that whoever wins the Scottish Premiership this season will achieve it with the lowest points total we’ve seen in a long time. Each of the top three are still to take points off of each other.
Then there’s the remarkable fact that of 31 matchdays this season, just one has seen each of Celtic, Hearts and Rangers win.
What position would Celtic be in NOW if Brendan Rodgers was still in charge?
Things could've been very different…
Callum McGregor’s comments about Celtic’s required points total were correct
To recap, McGregor’s exact words after the 2-0 defeat to Dundee United were: “We’ll see if we need to win them all or not, but I think we have to go on a run.
“Certainly, you’ve got to win at least five or six to have a good chance [of winning the league].”
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Both Hearts and Rangers will play three away matches after the split, and both are still to face top six sides before it.
Both will drop points before the end of the campaign, at places other than Celtic Park. Rangers have won less than half of their away games this season.
As well as coming to Parkhead, Hearts are still to play another Edinburgh Derby at Easter Road, and face Motherwell twice. To come through all of these fixtures unscathed, they’d need a serious upturn on recent performances.
If Celtic can beat both Hearts and Rangers at home after the split, then it isn’t just possible that they can afford to drop points in two other games, but the most likely probability.
In both literal and logical terms, what McGregor said was true.
To be clear: this is not a cry that Celtic are going to win the league. This season has been simply impossible to predict, but that doesn’t mean we need to overestimate the task at hand.
A Hoops squad as substandard as this one is extremely unlikely to go and win seven consecutive games, despite the presence of the miracle worker that is Martin O’Neill.
Do you agree with Charlie Mulgrew, Celtic fans?
Very interesting take!
But that sentence doesn’t have to mean that we write this season off.
McGregor has been used to much higher standards than what he has been part of this season. He knows more than anyone: the best we can hope for is that we are the best of a bad bunch.
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