To be honest, I was half expecting a negative rant from Hugh Keevins on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard. What I really wasn’t anticipating was a random rant about Celtic’s previous European qualifiers when we have just completed the first fixture of this seasons Europa League campaign.
As the Hoops fell to a thrilling 4-3 defeat to Real Betis in Seville, the conversation turned to were it all went wrong for Celtic, and even though the crux of Keevins point was correct, you would think the team didn’t deserve to be in the competition listening to this strange pontification, “I listened to the programme Tuesday night and Wednesdays and I heard Celtic supporters come on and say, ‘Listen I’d take a 2-0 defeat just now.’
“So, in that regard. There were positives from Celtic.
“You heard Ange Postecoglou say he refuses to go anywhere and shy away from the fight, to use his expression.
“My problem with Celtic is that a game is never over. Even when they’re two up. Bad defending has become too much of a defining characteristic for Celtic.
“They were three up on aggregate against Alkmaar and how they got into the competition, the group stages, I do not know.
“Because they spent the remainder of the game with their backs to the wall. Midtjylland, to go out of the Champions League, bad defending. Last night? Bad defending.”
Now we all know there were defensive deficiencies in Celtic’s performance against the Spanish giants, but considering the team were without 6 first team picks, they performed admirably and not many European sides will look forward to a trip to Paradise when all of Ange Postecoglou’s first team is available to play.