Opinion – Celtic is rotting from the inside

Celtic is a team in shambles – that is clear to see. Two domestic defeats in a row now and I’m not confident of ending that streak against Livingston next Saturday. Whether we like it or not, we are fair game for anyone in the league right now, and that’s not good when we have a Glasgow Derby game coming up in two weeks.

For a team that dominated under Ange Postecoglou, how we can go from looking like a powerhouse of Scottish football to losing at Celtic Park to a much weaker side is unexplainable.

Are tactics the problem? Maybe. Last season’s top goal scorer, Kyogo Furuhashi, has played 17 games this season. In those 17 appearances, he has scored six goals – a significantly lower number compared to his tally from this time last season. That may not be his fault though as he is being taken out of the game. But what is the problem here?

It could be the tactics used by Brendan Rodgers, which were criticised a lot earlier in the season due to the deeper role that Kyogo was being asked to play. As X user BhoyinRed put it, this is how Celtic play: “Get the ball. Pass it around the back for a few minutes. Give it to the winger. And if the winger keeps the ball for more than a few seconds, whip the ball into the box. Rinse and repeat.” This summary is hard to argue with, as it’s what we’re all seeing on the pitch! This system clearly does not suit Kyogo or any of our wingers currently fit to play a game.

It’s also a fact that most of our fit wingers are not good enough to be in the team. Mikey Johnston lost the ball 18 times in 45 minutes, leaving our star striker completely isolated at the top of the park. Although I personally rate him, the statistics and what we’ve seen from him recently don’t put Yang in a positive light either. Last season, Kyogo had Jota to supply him. This season, he has Mikey Johnston!

A big talking point from the game was the chants directed towards the Celtic board, and chairman Peter Lawwell in particular. ‘Sack the board’ and ‘Lawwell, get to….’ were some of the chants heard around the stadium, with stewards being deployed around the director’s box as tensions grew inside the ground.

The board have done nothing good this season.

The Green Brigade have now been banned since the end of October, and although talks between the GB and the club were rumoured, they have seemingly yet to have come to an agreement.

In addition to this, the club have just pulled in record profits and revenue for the year – yet I can take a good guess and say that we won’t see that represented in the players we bring to the club in the upcoming transfer windows.

Speaking of transfers – ONE of our summer signings started yesterday, with only two of the others being on the bench. That means that Yang, Tilio, Phillips, Nawrocki, Lagerbielke, and Holm were nowhere to be seen. For heaven’s sake, what is happening at our club?

It makes you wonder if it was even Rodgers that wanted these players in the first place, but even if they aren’t, you can’t justify only including three out of nine summer signings in the squad.

Alright – we’re always going to lose games. We’re always going to drop some points. But with the squad we have, filled with players that won a treble last season, we need to be doing much better than this.

If you dare to speak out about what you think is going wrong, you will be banned from partaking in things like media conferences – as seen recently when a Celtic Podcast was apparently banned for giving their opinions on the board. Celtic is rotting from the inside out, and we can do nothing but sit back and complain.

Jessica Elliott

Do you agree with Jessica’s assessment? If you would like to outline your own thoughts on what happening at Celtic this season please email editor@theCelticstar.co.uk and we’ll publish today. Alternatively you can add your comments below…