Bhoycie 
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 13: Celtic's Callum McGregor looks dejected during a Premier Sports Cup Quarter-Final match between Rangers and Celtic at Ibrox Stadium, on September 13, 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Callum McGregor has never been somebody to hide after a Celtic defeat.
Following Sunday’s 3-0 embarrassment at Ibrox, the captain fronted up again — and some of what he said was pretty damning.
McGregor described Rangers as looking like a team while Celtic looked like individuals. His strongest assessment was brutally simple:
“You can’t defend with six players.”
He’s right.
Celtic didn’t resemble a team at Ibrox. Rangers were more aggressive, more organised and won far too many individual battles.
“Rangers were a team, you could see that. We looked like individuals who wanted to do our own thing, to play when we got the ball but not necessarily run when you don’t have the ball.”
However, there’s an uncomfortable part of this conversation for Callum.
He was part of it.
You can’t question the collective performance without examining your own contribution, and McGregor had a poor afternoon by his standards.
Celtic’s captain struggled to impose himself in midfield, couldn’t offer enough protection to those behind him and was unable to drag his teammates back into the contest.
That doesn’t suddenly make McGregor a bad player or captain. It reinforces something I’ve been saying for a while.
He needs help in there.
Nothing summed up Celtic’s afternoon better than a clip shared by a gloating Ewen Cameron on X after Rangers scored their third.
‘NO MORE GOALS’
Callum McGregor knew, with 20 minutes to go, they were well beaten.
It was damage limitation for the Celtic captain from this point.
Staggering. #Celtic #Rangers pic.twitter.com/gnf7JbKufu— Ewen Cameron (@EwenDCameron) September 13, 2026
McGregor can be seen gesturing towards his teammates and appearing to mouth the words:
“No more goals.”
I actually understand it.
Three-nil down at Ibrox, the game was gone. Keep it tight. Don’t allow a horrible afternoon to become four or five.
But it’s still an extraordinary image.
A Celtic captain at Ibrox effectively acknowledging that damage limitation is now on the menu.
Very rarely do you see that.
Perhaps it also explains some of McGregor’s anger afterwards. He had reached a point during the game where winning was no longer realistic and stopping Rangers inflicting further damage became the priority.
It’s hard to wrap your head around really.
Infact, I’ll be honest it is giving me vibes of the Covid Season all over again.
Now Callum is publicly questioning Celtic’s collective attitude.
Good.
I want the captain angry. I want him demanding more from the players around him.
Those standards apply to everybody, though.
Martin O’Neill has to examine his disastrous decisions. Individual players have to examine their performances.
McGregor has to do exactly the same.
Because while he’s absolutely correct that Celtic cannot “defend with six players”, his own performance at Ibrox was just as unacceptable as many of those around him.
Celtic need more from their captain.
Maybe more importantly, they need to give their captain the midfield help he quite clearly needs.
I would love someone to tell me when was the last time mcgregor looked like a celtic player. I fear Martin is overthrowing things. Singasalo is a good keeper the ox the last two game
Has been at his best. The fact opposing teams let scales have the ball as long as he wants tells you they know he is not going to do anything positive with it toneki beats 1 player 5 times. Duran looked like he didn’t want to be there.