Why Callum McGregor ‘off day’ verdict in Celtic’s defeat at Dundee United simply doesn’t add up

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There’s a fine line between a Celtic captain being ‘calm’ and one being in denial. After Sunday’s toothless 2-0 defeat at Dundee United, Callum McGregor’s comments as he told fans they just have to ‘eat humble pie’ and put the loss down to an ‘off day’ simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

An ‘off day’ is a freak Celtic result in just one game in the season. An ‘off day’ is a VAR shocker in a game the Bhoys dominated.

McGregor told Sky Sports, “Sometimes you just have to eat humble pie.

“If we’re honest, we probably didn’t do enough in the game in terms of creating chances.

“We lose a couple of poor goals and the game sort of gets away from us. We didn’t do enough and that’s on us.

“Maybe too many carrying an off day. We have to stay calm. Now’s the time for calm heads.”

What Celtic fans watched in the Hoops defeat at Dundee United, wasn’t a fluke. It was the eighth league defeat of this campaign.

But even that does not tell the whole story.

• READ MORE: Police Federation boss slams Ibrox command over Rangers vs Celtic derby chaos

Your INSTANT REACTION to that loss 😡

Is the title race over?

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Celtic’s league table position obliterates Callum McGregor’s ‘off day’ comments

Celtic are sitting third in the Scottish Premiership table, five points adrift of Hearts and trailing Rangers going into the international break.

Talk about ‘calm heads’ all you want, but the supporters are looking at a trend, not a blip. When you lose eight times before April, that’s not an ‘off day’, that’s a complete failure of a season.

The most damning part of McGregor’s assessment? The Celtic captain admitted we didn’t create enough. Again. The lack of penetration and the same one-pace tempo was witnessed in Celtic’s win at Rangers two Sundays ago has become the norm for this season.

Celtic’s pitiful goal record

What has also come home to roost is Celtic’s lack of goals, and fondness for conceding to their rivals.

With just 56 goals scored, even a poor Rangers side are just as sharp as the Hoops up front, with Hearts just three goals behind.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian	31	20	6	5	53	25	28	66
2	RangersRangers	31	17	12	2	56	26	30	63
3	CelticCeltic	31	19	4	8	56	34	22	61
4	MotherwellMotherwell	31	14	12	5	49	23	26	54
5	HibernianHibernian	31	12	12	7	48	35	13	48
6	FalkirkFalkirk	31	12	7	12	39	40	-1	43
7	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	31	8	13	10	40	48	-8	37
8	DundeeDundee	31	8	8	15	31	49	-18	32
9	AberdeenAberdeen	31	8	6	17	31	46	-15	30
10	St MirrenSt Mirren	31	6	9	16	25	47	-22	27

As for Celtic’s defensive record, with 34 goals shipped, Motherwell, Rangers and Hearts are better at keeping clean sheets than Martin O’Neill’s leaky defence.

Even Hibs have conceded just one more goal more than the Scottish champions have so far this season.

With seven games left, there is no more room for “off days.” If this squad doesn’t wake up to the reality that we are statistically having our worst season in a generation, the only thing we’ll be eating in May is some more of that humble pie McGregor was speaking about inside Tannadice.