Journalist Michael Gannon has recently given his opinion about Celtic’s recent run of form.
Gannon was a guest on the latest episode of the Record Celtic podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. One topic of discussion was the club’s recent run of form under Neil Lennon, and Gannon believes that the issues at the club don’t revolve around a lack of commitment of the team as there are other issues of concern at Parkhead.
Before Celtic’s recent win over Motherwell, the Hoops had won just a single game in six outings in all competitions. They are currently nine points behind Rangers in the Premiership table, though they have two games in hand. Meanwhile, they are at the bottom of their Europa League group having picked up just one point from three games.
Have Celtic been poor defensively this season?
Yes
No
Gannon talked about the club’s form and believes that the team has lost confidence because of poor defending.
He said: “I don’t think it is a commitment issue, I think there are other problems at Celtic. Maybe they’ve been robbed off some confidence because the defending was so poor. That can spread through a whole team. If your backline is losing daft goals, that can affect the whole team. If you’re a striker and you think, ‘I need to score two or three goals here, because we’ve already chucked in two,’ that creates tension.”
TIF Thoughts on Gannon’s comments regarding Celtic’s form…
Celtic have now conceded 11 goals in the Premiership and have let in as many goals as third-placed Aberdeen so far. In three Europa League games, the Hoops have conceded nine goals and have a poor goal difference of -5 in Group H.
This clearly suggests that the team haven’t been defending well. Shane Duffy was criticised by Kris Commons, while Christopher Jullien has been out injured because of a back problem. Elsewhere, Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed had tested positive for the virus during the previous international break. All of this could be a reason why there might have been instability around the club’s defence this season, and because of that, one can understand why Gannon is concerned about Celtic’s defending despite their lofty league position.