Celtic’s fragility was compounded by Martin O’Neill’s frail defence of his position yesterday – the signs ahead are ominous…

Yesterday, Martin O’Neill was wheeled out to tell us all that everything is under control.

Hours later, I’m not sure there’s a single Celtic supporter who believes him.

I wrote about the interview this morning, and I’m grateful to everyone who has read it and shared it.

But the more I think about it, the more I think there’s a bigger story sitting underneath it.

Because the fragility we’ve all been seeing on the pitch and the fragility we saw in that interview are the very same thing.

The numbers behind our start to the season tell you everything the manager didn’t want to say out loud

BBC Sport have been digging into the league figures, and it makes for uncomfortable reading.

We’re top of the table, with six wins from seven.

On the face of it, that’s a smooth start to the defence of the title.

But we’ve conceded four goals this season, compared to three at the same stage last year, and that sounds like nothing.

Then you look at what’s behind it.

We’ve faced 79 shots, compared to 41 last season, and 29 of them have been on target.

Our goalkeeper has had to make 21 saves, where last year he made nine.

Now, I’m not a stats man, as you’ll know by now.

I’ve always made my case from watching the team play, and not from a spreadsheet.

But in this instance, the spreadsheet is telling me the exact same thing my eyes have been telling me.

And when both agree, who am I to argue?

Make no mistake, we’re being opened up far too easily, and we’re relying on the keeper and a bit of luck to paper over it.

Of course, it’s hard to argue with the results, and I’ll give the manager that much.

But results like that don’t last forever when you’re leaking chances at that rate.

Anybody who watched that interview yesterday would have been looking for a manager who sounded like he had a plan

What we got instead was a man who sounded like he was trying to talk himself into it.

He told us there wasn’t much between us and the Ibrox side, which I’ve already covered, and I won’t go over it all again.

But it tells you all you need to know about where his head is at.

If you can’t see the gap, you can’t close it.

And if the manager can’t see the gap, you can bet your house the players can.

You know it, I know it, and the support knows it.

Three defeats in a row going into the international break, two of them to the Ibrox side, and he wants us to believe it was all just a wee wobble.

Was it a wobble?

No, it was a warning.

Fans watching that interview were looking for reassurance about what’s coming next, and they didn’t get a drop of it.

We’ve got Motherwell on Sunday, and the six fixtures that follow it aren’t going to be any kinder.

Do you feel any better about them after hearing him?

No, me neither.

And then there’s the line about Felipe Jota being like having a new player

This is the one that really got to me.

O’Neill was asked about Jota’s return, and he said that it’s like having a new player.

Now, I get what he’s trying to do.

He’s trying to lift the support, and I understand why.

Everybody at the club wants to see Jota back on the park, and nobody more than me.

But I warned about expecting too much from Jota when he makes his return, and I stand by every word of it.

This is a player who has been out injured for 18 months.

He ruptured his ACL in a title decider at Tannadice, and it’s been one hell of a long road back.

The first thing in his mind when he steps out there is going to be whether it could happen to him again.

That’s human nature.

And what good is managerial optimism against that?

So when the manager starts talking about Jota like he’s a marquee signing, I get worried.

Because that’s expecting far too much, far too soon, from a player who hasn’t played a competitive minute in a year and a half.

And it’s a dangerous thing to do when the whole fanbase is already looking for a saviour.

A club in this much trouble shouldn’t be relying on one man’s legs to get it out of it

Think about what that says about where we are.

We’ve got a defence that’s leaking chances, a midfield that can’t find its balance, and ten new players still finding their feet.

And the answer from the manager is that a winger who’s been injured since April of last year is going to sort it all out.

Is that a plan?

No, that’s a hope.

And hope is exactly what you cling to when you don’t have a plan.

Yesterday was the chance to show us that he has one.

Instead, he showed us that the fragility on the pitch is matched by the fragility in the dugout.

I’d love to be proven wrong, I really would.

But with Motherwell on Sunday and a run of fixtures that gets harder from there, I can’t see where the confidence is coming from.

The signs ahead are ominous, and yesterday did nothing to change that.

Reality is a bitch.

Keep your eyes on Fir Park…

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