Callum McGregor slams Celtic, says warning signs were there and reveals Rangers emergency action
Captain does not hold back with scathing assessment of Old Firm performance at Ibrox
Captain Callum McGregor says Celtic played like “a team of individuals” against Rangers and has urged the squad to quickly rectify their failings.
In a remarkably candid and frank post-match interview, McGregor said that the warning signs for Celtic had been present for weeks and after losing the Champions League play-off against LASK and the first Old Firm derby of the season to Rangers, the squad have to prove they can win big matches.
Celtic were dominated all over the pitch at Ibrox, losing 3-0 and crashing out of the Premier Sports Cup. And McGregor - a veteran of this fixture - did not mince his words after the match.
"We were poor in pretty much every area of the game,” he said. “Once we went behind in the game we never looked like we were recovering really to be honest.
“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.”
Asked if the level of performance surprised him, McGregor replied: “Yeah, technically it did. Obviously you've got to come here and if you want to impose yourself on the game then you need to be good on the ball. We never quite did that. To be honest we didn't have massive pressure really.
"It was quite careless and slack in the moments where you actually think we now have half a foot in the game. We keep turning the ball over and then it's a counter attack which is what they want and they were good at to be fair. Probably all our own doing to be honest.”
Celtic ‘looked like a team of individuals’
McGregor labelled the defeat his toughest experience at Ibrox. “It wasn't us,” he said. “I think the difference between the two sides was you've seen a team and then you've seen a team of individuals as well.
"Rangers were a team and you could see that. We looked like a team of individuals that wanted to do our own thing and play when we got the ball.
"Not necessarily run when you don't have the ball. That's the one thing you can't do when you come here is just don't run. You can't defend with six players, it's impossible. We're trying to get the message to everyone that we have to be a team.
Celtic have two big home games in the space of three days - against Ferencvaros in the Europa League on Thursday and then Rangers on Sunday in the Premiership.
"We have to be the team that we want to be,” continued McGregor. “We need to find a way to do that quickly because we lost a big game in LASK. We lost another big game today and it's not acceptable.
"There'll be other big games throughout the season and eventually you have to win one if you want to be considered a good team. We've put ourselves under pressure. We need to respond on Thursday and we need to respond on Sunday.
“But we very quickly need to get to the level.”
McGregor accepts that the narrative will be on how Celtic have capitulated in their two high-stakes matches so far this season “Yeah, I'm not going to shy away from that because everyone will be talking about it,” he said. “Let's be fair. So if we want to be a good Celtic team then we have to win the big games.
"That's one thing we've always done is win big games and turned up when it mattered. So far this season we've been bitty in games and we need to fix it.
“I think I said that after LASK - you can see it [the warning signs], 100 per cent. You can see it, especially for the guys that have been here for a long time and the guys that have been watching Celtic for a long time.
“You see the team and how it functions and how it performs and how it behaves. And it's just been too bitty. So we have to find a way to bring it back and bridge that gap and start to bring it together. Because if we don't, then you'll have more days like this.
“We've been doing this a long time now in terms of the process and the structure. You're right, there's some new guys in, trying to get them bedded in, trying to get them to understand the system, how we want the Celtic team to look.
‘The penny has to drop’
“There's been shades of it this season but not enough. So eventually the penny has to drop, we have to get there. Because you can't just turn it on and off, it's impossible.
“Especially when you come to venues like this. You have to be good against the ball and when you get it, you have to be the version of Celtic that we want to be. And we know it gets us success.
“It's reinforcement, it's training, it's coaching, it's all of these things. And eventually the penny has to drop at some point.
"The guys are given good information. We've been doing this a long time. And you need to bring it together because, like I said, it's two big games that we've lost.
"And you probably won't get many more before the pressure really ramps up. And we have to be honest about that, let's not shy away from it. So we have to fix it.”
McGregor feared the scoreline could have got messy when Rangers went 3-0 up with 15 minutes to go. "You don't want fours and fives for sure,” he added. “As soon as the goal went in, then I'm saying to Cam [Carter-Vickers] and Scalesy [Liam Scales], 'Look, no more goals, we have to just tighten this up'.
"Of course, we always want to get back in the game. And we always want to be a team that, even at 3-0 down, you still want to have a chance, but you have to understand the circumstance you're in as well.
"Well beaten at 3-0 with good goals against you, but if it starts to run at fours and fives, then you're talking about a different ballgame.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.