Celtic captain Callum McGregor made a blunt admission following the defeat against Rangers in Sunday’s derby on Sept. 13.
Derek McInnes’ side comfortably defeated the Hoops 3-0, with Dan Neil scoring in the 22nd minute, Kevin Helsey adding a second in the 59th and Neil completing his brace in the 75th.
After the match, McGregor made a harsh admission, acknowledging that once they fell behind, he never felt they were going to be able to recover.
“Once we went behind in the game, we never looked like recovering, to be honest,” McGregor told the BBC, via CeltsAreHere.
He added, “We had a couple of good moments early on; if we take them, it’s a different game. And we know that coming here you’re not going to get hundreds and hundreds of chances. You get moments in the game where, if you take them, it can totally change the outlook of the game. I felt like once we went one behind, we never really looked like we were getting back in it, to be honest.”
McGregor Sends Blunt Message to Celtic Teammates After Defeat
McGregor even admitted that he was surprised by Celtic’s lack of passing ability in this match against Rangers, explaining that if you want to win a game of this magnitude, you have to show up and be technically up to the standard required, which was not the case today.
“Technically it did (surprised him). You come here, and if you want to impose yourself, you’ve got to be good on the ball, and we never quite did that. To be honest, it wasn’t under massive pressure either; it was quite careless and slack. When you think we have half a foot in the game, we keep turning the ball over, and it’s a counter-attack, which is what they want and are good at. “Was it one of the toughest times I’ve had out there? Yeah, because it wasn’t us. I think the difference between the two sides was you saw the team, and you saw a team of individuals as well.”
Celtic captain Callum McGregor also acknowledged that Rangers showed up as a team, and that it was evident, while Celtic looked more like a collection of individuals, with everyone trying to do their own thing.
“Rangers were a team, and you could see that. We looked like a team of individuals who wanted to do our own thing and play when we got the ball, not necessarily run when you don’t. That’s what you can’t do when you come here; you’ve got to run. You can’t defend with six players; it’s impossible.”
“We’re trying to get the message to everyone that we need to be a team, to be the team we want to be. And we need to find a way to do that quickly because we lost a big game in LASK and another one today. It’s not acceptable.”
Callum McGregor Blasts Celtic Teammates After Rangers Defeat