Celtic can rebuild after slipping back at the Tony Macaroni

Perhaps the only relief for Celtic fans who saw the aftermath of the club’s first ever defeat to Livingston was that the tensions bubbling between the two sets of players did not boil over at the final whistle. Ryan Christie was already in the dugout after his first half red card, with a three game suspension in the post, and there was no sense in anyone else joining him.

As it was, Christopher Jullien’s thousand-yard stare as he went through the motions of the post-match handshakes would be as ugly as things would get.

The £7-million centre half’s frustration summed up the mood among Neil Lennon’s side. They had been roughed up, wound up and mugged off in a tight, ugly encounter on the plastic turf of Livi’s Tony Macaroni Stadium. They would soon slip into second place in the table, Rangers romping past Hamilton in Sunday afternoon’s later game to render Celtic’s victory in the first Old Firm clash of the season an irrelevance.  

Straight red: Ryan Christie

Walter Smith used to tell his Rangers players to worry about the games before and after each Old Firm clash and Celtic will have their one-time nemesis’ words ringing in their ears as they enter the international break trailing their great foes. The defeat to Livi, on the heels of last weekend’s draw at Easter Road threatens to dampen the enthusiasm around a Celtic side capable of a great deal more.

Indeed, the Celtic Park faithful will be desperate to see Neil Lennon’s men consistently display the quality they have shown in their first two Europa League ties, as well as their earlier Scottish Premiership fixtures. The dynamism and discipline evident in Thursday night’s 2-0 victory over Cluj, along with the draw away to a strong Rennes side, has been lacking in the last two domestic assignments.

Tiredness from Thursday evening may have contributed to Celtic’s defeat on Sunday, particularly in the instance of Christie’s uncharacteristic lunge on Scott Robinson, which earned him an immediate dismissal. However, in other areas the Bhoys clearly lacked the requisite nous and guile against Gary Holt’s well-drilled Livi side.

The recall of Austrian right-back Moritz Bauer for such a predictably physical encounter was puzzling, with the Stoke City loanee looking unsettled by the home side’s rugged approach. Hatem Abd Elhamed, who helped secure a clean sheet against Cluj, is a more defensively assured full-back and may well have coped better with the frequent long balls from the home side.

Livi benefitted from an excellent focal point in attack, with Lyndon Dykes troubling the Celtic backline with his strength and speed, not to mention more than a few of the dark arts. The young target man was certainly abrasive, offering the full complement of trailing arms, shoves and ankle-nips before settling the game with a fine chip over Fraser Forster.

Abrasive and outstanding: Lyndon Dykes

Jullien in particular appeared driven to distraction by the antics of Dykes and his colleagues, with the Frenchman repeatedly losing his rag at his opponents as the match wore on. He’d have been better off focusing on the basics, with Scott Robinson benefitting from huge gap between him and Bauer to poke home Livi’s opener.

Even Celtic’s most reliable performers failed to shine, with James Forrest largely anonymous and Scott Brown frequently crowded out by Robinson and Robbie Crawford in the centre of the park. Mohamed Elyounoussi was a rare bright spot, with the Norwegian showing his athleticism and flair on a number of storming runs down the left flank.

Celtic will hope that the likes of Forrest and Odsonne Edouard can quickly regain form when they return from Scottish and French under-21 duties in a couple of weeks, although Christie’s suspension will leave a vacancy in the number 10 role, where he has excelled up until Sunday.

Comeback trail: Tom Rogic

One consolation could be that it offers Tom Rogic a route back into contention, as the Australian continues his recovery from an injury-ravaged 2018-19 season. Rogic scored in the 5-0 cup rout of Partick Thistle recently, and the left-footer is a classy addition to the side when fit and firing.

Celtic fans have not seen enough of him lately, with some contradictory reports in the Scottish tabloids suggesting he will spend the international break getting married, but Christie’s absence could be a precious opportunity for the enigmatic attacking midfielder to assert himself once again.        

Tom McMahon