Celtic’s decline is clear, obvious and doesn’t seem to be slowing

Originally posted on The Celtic Star | By Conall McGinty | Last updated Oct 3, 2025 2:03 PM ET

I was in the mood to write this article last night after the final whistle as I had a lot to get off my chest but instead thought it would be sensible to sleep on it, hoping that perhaps I would wake up the following morning and not be as frustrated and angry as I was post game.

Somehow I almost feel worst today as reality sets in. The reality that it’s going to be a long hard slog watching Celtic this season. By the way that’s not an overreaction to what I saw last night, it’s an honest assessment after watching our first ten games of the season.

In those ten games we have scored a total of nine goals. Let that sink in for a minute. In previous seasons we could be talking about a certain player having those numbers but in this case it’s the overall team’s grand total.

I wrote an article pre-match yesterday revealing my concerns for this season. I talked about our lack of attacking threat. I stated that if we were to have any hopes of finally kick-starting this season then we needed to take six points from our two games against Braga and Motherwell before we enter another international break. We failed miserably to claim those first three points last night as another game passed and another blank in front of goal was registered.

We were tough to watch last night. Some may point to the disallowed goal, which is one of the worst decisions I have ever saw in European competition by the way, and say that changed the game. They may be correct, we were certainly in the ascendancy at that stage of the match but that doesn’t change the fact that for the majority of the game we were woeful yet again. Our style of play is so pedestrian. Game after game I watch and think to myself why does this look like a pre-season friendly?

Worryingly with each passing match I can’t help think to myself that this is all starting to feel a bit similar to the ‘Covid season’. There are so many different negative story lines surrounding the club. The board. The manager’s future. It’s clear a few players want away. It’s also obvious that others have become comfortable and aren’t putting in the type of performances that are essential if you’re lucky enough to pull on the green and white hoops.

No one looks motivated. So many players are bang out of form. Schmeichel was awful last night. Even before his clanger he was misplacing passes all over the place and putting more unneeded pressure on our defence. Does Rodgers have the balls to drop him for Sinisalo? I doubt it but it’s a decision that most fans would encourage.