An insipid performance from Celtic at Tannadice could prove the undoing of our title bid…
Eric Knott 
DUNDEE, SCOTLAND - MARCH 22: Celtic's Benjamin Nygren, Hyunjun Yang and Benjamin Arthur (L-R) look dejected during a William Hill Premiership match between Dundee United and Celtic at the CalForth Construction Arena at Tannadice, on March 22, 2026, in Dundee, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Goals, or a lack thereof, have been Celtic’s achilles heel all season during this campaign.
We don’t have a striker who has scored more than 3 goals this season, and yesterday, it really showed.
The problem at the moment is that every time Celtic go a goal down, you begin to wonder if we have the ability to come back and win.
The worry that we don’t have that ability is always there.
When we go 2 down, its almost a feeling of resignation.
When we conceded our second yesterday, that feeling of resignation settled on me.
It settled on me because I had seen nothing up to that point that would convince me that we were capable of getting anything out of that game.
For every performance we have where we pull a result out of the fire, we also have one like this in our locker.
Celtic haven’t lost 8 games in a season since the 1999/2000 season.
26 years have passed since then.
It took just one of those 26 years for us to descend into the mediocre, pitiful shambles we witnessed yesterday.
The men responsible for that, in their pathetic little corner at Tannadice, couldn’t even bring themselves to look at the fans, whose enjoyment from supporting Celtic has been ripped away from them.
Just as this board had hoped a title win would save their hides, which it never was, a loss like yesterday’s was always going to tear away that imaginary belief of theirs.
I’m personally hard pressed to find a performance from a Celtic side as poor as that in living memory.
And yes, Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney have to accept their part in that too.
Although judging by Martin O’Neill’s demeanour on the touchline yesterday, I daresay he was as raging as he was embarrassed by that shitshow.
Not one player even scraped pass marks.
Not one.
I cannot for the life of me, wrap my head around why O’Neill and Maloney continue to persist with the ill-fated 4-3-3 formation.
Tactical inflexibility and like for like substitutions was the undoing of Brendan Rodgers.
It appears it will be the same for O’Neill and Maloney.
This current Celtic style of play is as boring as it is predictable.
Personally, I would rather have my finger nails extracted and served to me on a slice of toast than watch it anymore.
Watching the team I love has become an ordeal, and I mean that win or lose.
Because we don’t win comfortably either.
Watching us romp to 4 and 5 nil wins has become a thing of the past.
Look, I get there are still 7 games to go.
I get that we’re still in with a shout in this race.
But if we continue playing the way we are?
We’re going to go out of it with a whimper.
If we line up with a similar starting 11 and formation to yesterday’s at Dens Park in a fortnight, we will lose.
Every man and his dog can see that.
Surely and this point in time, Martin O’Neill can too?
For the next two weeks we have to endure an international break while mulling over yesterday’s shambolic performance.
If we continue to capitulate like we did yesterday over the course of the remaining 7 fixtures, then I can assure this board they’ll have no where to hide.
No amount of pretending the Celtic fans don’t exist will save them from wrath that will come their way.
The mediocrity on display at Tannadice yesterday was down to them.
Football has become the lowest priority at Celtic Park, and what we witnessed yesterday proved that categorically.
We cannot hope for change from this board over the next two weeks, we know that.
But the least we can hope for is that Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney use this time to take stock.
They just cannot deploy a 4-3-3 formation in our next fixture.
If they persist with this formation, we will be completely out of this title race in the next two fixtures.
I make no bones about saying that.
What I witnessed yesterday is proof enough of that for me.
It should be for the management team too.
Key Takeaways
- Celtic struggles with scoring, lacking a striker who can convert chances.
- The team’s poor performances lead to feelings of resignation when they go behind in matches.
- The current 4-3-3 formation and tactical inflexibility hinder Celtic’s chances of success.
- Fans find the style of play boring and predictable, leading to frustration regardless of match outcomes.
- If the management does not adapt, Celtic risks falling out of the title race in upcoming fixtures.
The good news is that both our competitors for the league title are on a par with us, shite.
For me, the best chance is to solidify with a 4-4-2 formation, removing our biggest weakness of wingers pathetically defending when we lose possession whilst offering zero when we are attacking, overlapping fullbacks would provide better delivery to TWO strikers than both Yang & Touneki.
Martin O’Neill has one other crucial decision to make on the teams domestic return that will decide our trophy fate, he MUST remove Scales from that team and pair Arthur & Trusty together for the remainder of the season.
HH
Hatate,for me,was having a decent first half.Moved to right back when there’s a right back on the bench ? Ralston might not be everybody’s favourite but that’s a position he knows.Tierney should be our corner kick taker leaving Nygeren (top goalscorer) in the box
They only care about stuffing their bank accounts with more money
All they’ve got to do is sit at games flanked by security and get shouted at for 90 minutes once a week they couldn’t give a flying f*ck
The fish rots from the head down
I don’t know if 4-4-2 would work better, but it’s worth a try. Daizen and big Tam up front, Yang and Tounekti with full-backs able to overlap…..the issue with that though is our midfield, both Reo and CalMac not playing great and Arne out injured gives less confidence in the middle of the park. You’d hope Luke or whoever would step up too…..and the fact that we don’t consider Adamu, Mvuka, or Balikwisha is on the board. Whether we win this title or lose it, for me, the most important thing is getting shot of the exec team. Because if we win the league, we still can’t have them staying put. If we lose, the case for them walking of their own accord might be easier. But I don’t want us to ever lose a league. Hard one. Either way, they have to go, for us to rebuild properly. I still hope MON will stay, maybe in an exec role. That would give continuity, stability and probably keep the walrus happy that he still has a friendly face on the board. As much as it would help for him to leave too (walrus), that’s less likely, at least in the short term. If we were losing to a top team and giving our all, it would at least feel better than watching two awful teams stumble in front of us, with us limping to catch up. HH
The leagues gone…
The incompetent collective haven’t laid a glove on the board….
It’s totally and utterly fucked.
I will be 65 in a few months time , and have been following Celtic FC since my granda lifted me over the turnstiles when I was 10 years old against Airdrie back in the old ‘ jungle days ! ‘ I can categorically say that this Celtic team and squad is the most wanting and inferior bunch of players I have ever witnessed in that time …. absolutely ! Yes , the Tannadice pitch looked like an African Savannah plain munched empty by gazillions of Wildebeest during the dry season . But the way the team failed to adapt to that and Dundee United’s tactics of sitting in and breaking out was unforgivable….and embarrassing . That pitch was perfect for shooting at goal from all distances and angles yet there was not a one shot until half way through the second half from this lackluster team . The omnishambles from the board is obviously spilling into the dressing room and daily training…big time ? The worst of it all is that everything has yet to hit rock bottom .
It`s funny how Celtic are keen enough to win corner kicks which are just balls
lobbed into the box but are reluctant to lob it into the box despite having
many opportunities during the course of the game.
As for the title; it is well and truly over and I, for one, will be hoping Hearts win every one of their remaining games (and never ever win again.
For the other mob to win the league is an unbearble thought. If that does come to pass, Celtic may never ever catch up with them again.