Celtic's Struggles: A Team in Crisis

Celtic look lost. That’s the blunt truth.

For a support raised on Martin O'Neill as a guarantor of order and defiance, even at the worst of times, this version of Celtic is a jarring watch. Faith in him has never been cheap at Celtic Park, but right now it is being stretched to breaking point.

A 3-0 mauling at Ibrox was supposed to sting them into life. Instead, Ferencvaros arrived, saw the same fragility, and helped themselves. Another heavy defeat, three more goals shipped, and a team that looks like it has forgotten how to do the basics.

The midfield drifted through the game, switching off at key moments. The back line played as if meeting for the first time. On the ball, Celtic were timid and imprecise, recycling possession sideways, rarely daring to cut through the lines. There was no tempo, no edge, no real conviction. Nothing that looked like a serious Europa League side.

At 3-1 down, they tried to rouse themselves. Shots flew from distance, more in hope than expectation. There was no sense of a coordinated press, no rapid combinations, none of that dizzying speed that once dragged defenders into places they hated. Under Ange Postecoglou, Celtic were all aggression and invention, a blur of movement and risk. This is a pale echo of that era.

The scars are starting to stack up. Five goals conceded against LASK. A miserable Old Firm outing at Ibrox. Now this home embarrassment. At times on Thursday, the football summoned up ghosts: Cluj and Copenhagen in 2019 and 2020, Sparta Prague in 2020. Names like Bayo, Bolingoli, Klimala, Ajeti, Duffy and Laxalt belong to a darker chapter, but the mood felt eerily similar.

The atmosphere turned. The energy in the team sagged, the noise in the stands turned to boos. It all felt very Legia Warsaw, very Salzburg, very Maribor – European nights where Celtic looked out of their depth and out of ideas.

Afterwards, O'Neill spoke of frustration, failure and psychological damage. He acknowledged how hard these moments hit, how they test a squad’s resolve. He vowed to “get ourselves together” for Rangers on Sunday, yet his delivery was flat, weary even. He listed the faults in his side but never sounded like a man brimming with solutions. His words had the same leaden feel as the performance that preceded them.

This is the manager who once imposed order on chaos, both in his trophy-laden first spell and in his return last season. He rebuilt confidence, tightened the defence and turned Celtic into a team nobody could beat on the title run-in. They were not always pretty, but they were relentless and stubborn. That resilience feels like a lifetime ago now.

Against Ferencvaros, the pattern was damning. Celtic started reasonably well, then folded at the first soft goal. They clawed their way back with a flash of quality, only to slip straight back into safe, sideways passing. The fire flickered, never caught.

The second goal, just before half-time, was the sort that poor teams concede. No conviction in attacking the loose ball. Weak resistance to the cross. Then chaos in the box, defenders unsure of who to mark or where to stand. Celtic had 62.5% of the ball in that first half and still trailed 2-1. Possession without purpose.

Camilo Duran, preferred through the middle ahead of Kasper Hogh, managed just eight touches before the break. In his favoured role, he drifted on the periphery. Only weeks ago he looked energised by life in Glasgow; now he seems a shadow of that player.

Hogh’s decline is just as stark. This is a striker who scored against Manchester City (twice), Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Sporting, Porto, Jagiellonia and Olympiacos (three) for Bodo Glimt. At Celtic, he has become an awkward, isolated figure, wrestling with his first touch and starved of chances. One goal in eight games is a grim return for an £11m signing. O'Neill has not yet found a way to unlock him.

Callum McGregor, the heartbeat and standard-bearer, looks adrift as well. If even he appears unsure, you know something has gone badly wrong. O'Neill has the experience to address it, but the urgency is growing and his demeanour does not radiate certainty.

Then came the inevitable twist. Daniel Arzani, the forgotten former Celtic winger, struck the third. Of course he did. A player who barely registered during his time in Glasgow returned to lash in a stunning goal that exposed Celtic’s structure in the most humiliating fashion.

The move unfolded like a bad comedy. Colby Donovan over-committed in attack, then sprinted desperately back as Ferencvaros broke. Arzani found himself with acres of room on the left, waited, measured his angle and whipped a brilliant shot into the top corner. Celtic’s defence scrambled like a slapstick routine. Keystone Cops had more coordination.

O'Neill now faces a brutal checklist. His team are short on ideas, belief, composure and physical presence. They lack creativity in tight spaces and ruthlessness in both boxes. The fight that once defined them has drained away. The manager himself looks bereft of inspiration, leaning on his past record as proof that he can dig himself out again. This time, the hole feels deeper.

McGregor admitted the team are “a little bit broken” at the moment. Across the city, Rangers will sense blood. They already landed one blow at Ibrox; now they walk into Celtic Park with the chance to inflict more damage on a wounded rival.

Beware the backlash, they’ll be told. Celtic Park can still roar, and players can still respond when pride is on the line. But on current evidence, who truly believes this Celtic side are ready for that kind of fight?

Sunday will not just be another Old Firm chapter. It will be a verdict on where the balance of power in Glasgow really lies.