The standard of Celtic’s away performances has been one of the biggest mysteries of this season.
After Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Dundee United, the Hoops have been left five points adrift in the Scottish Premiership title race, with just seven remaining games to turn it around.
And, unfortunately for Martin O’Neill, four of those games will be away. Dundee at Dens Park after the international break, before the almost-certain trips to Motherwell, Hibs and Falkirk after the split.
To add even more jeopardy to the run-in, two of Celtic’s three remaining home games will be against title rivals in Hearts and Rangers.
Your INSTANT REACTION to that loss 😡
Is the title race over?
Celtic’s dreadful away performances this season, laid bare
Sunday’s game threw up plenty of damning stats which reflected terribly on O’Neill’s Celtic team.
But perhaps the most troubling of all is that Celtic’s goal difference total in away games now lies at just one this season.
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In 16 away games in the Scottish Premiership, Celtic have scored 23 goals and conceded 22. They have won exactly half of their away games.
You could easily label Sunday’s game as the worst performance of the Hoops’ season, though Motherwell away under Wilfried Nancy is also a strong contender.
Even under Brendan Rodgers, the team lost away to Hearts and Dundee and barely created a single chance in a goalless draw with Russell Martin’s Rangers.
Sunday may have been Celtic’s first away Premiership defeat of the calendar year, but make no mistake: it had been coming. The team’s standard of away performances has made results completely unsustainable.
Getting away with a poor performance once or twice is manageable, but doing it repeatedly is playing with fire. Across O’Neill’s interim spells, the Hoops have narrowly won in games where performances have raised the same concerns raised in this weekend’s defeat.
Away against St Mirren in November, Celtic were completely bereft in attack and saved by Callum McGregor’s late screamer. Against Falkirk in January, O’Neill himself described the performance as “devoid of energy” as the Bairns missed a host of clear-cut chances.
As a side note, Celtic have now lost all three of their games in Dundee next season… so you’ll be delighted to know that our next fixture is away at Dundee.
What position would Celtic be in NOW if Brendan Rodgers was still in charge?
Things could've been very different…
Looking beyond this season for Celtic
The fact that such costly issues have persisted through the spells of several managers indicates fundamental issues with this Celtic team.
The temporary direction of O’Neill has provided the Hoops with a lifeline that could still deliver the title, the Scottish Cup or both – but it really would be a miraculous achievement given what he’s working with.
Celtic need a new direction in the summer; a rebuild similar to what we saw with Ange Postecoglou in 2021.
Whoever the club choose to lead that rebuild – Robbie Keane, Jens Berthel Askou or O’Neill himself – will simply not get away with an away record like what we’ve seen this season.
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