Losing 7 goals in Barcelona may be unfortunate – 2 in Inverness looks like carelessness

“Man can climb to the highest summits, but he cannot dwell there long.”
                                                                                                                   – George Bernard Shaw

Brendan Rodgers has made a big impression in his few months as Celtic's head coach.

On arriving, he immediately spoke like a man who fully understood Celtic's values, standards and the expectations of supporters beyond the “famous club with a great history – great fans” trope that is standard fare with such appointments.

Look Mum, No hands!

There was an authenticity to Brendan's words that allowed us to take his expressions of respect for the club and its fans without salt.

That was quickly followed by the sort of football talk that reassured most of us that we had someone who knew the game. When I listen to a highly-paid expert giving a post-match analysis, I like to hear comments that I couldn't have made myself.

That gives me confidence as I am not qualified to be a football coach so banal talk about “commitment”, “belief” “finishing in the final third”, etc. – football commentators' bread-and-butter – do nothing to tell me that we have a coach for the modern game.

So, I'm really delighted that we have Brendan Rodgers and his coaching staff. We have made progress and that, I think, accounts for the difference in responses to our two big defeats by Barcelona, in recent years.

When we lost 6-1 under Neil Lennon, I was crestfallen as it was indicative of a club on the way down, with no indication of when we would touch bottom.

Last week's loss seemed like a painful setback on the way up.

I often think it's something similar to physical health.

When you're feeling okay but the symptoms of flu or something worse start showing up, it's a dispiriting, anxious feeling. When you feel pretty lousy but a lot better than yesterday, the spirits begin to rise.

Being down, looking up is always more fun than being up, looking down. Otherwise, we would never climb mountains – but it's hard to remain at the top for long.

And, so Celtic's impressive start to the domestic season has faltered, needlessly giving away two more goals and squandering a dominant position.

It's not a crisis – not even a pre-crisis warning sign – but remedial action will be needed.

We should, though, congratulate Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who gave nothing but full, professional application to their afternoon's work, took their goals well and had two arguable penalty claims.

On the other hand, while Celtic certainly played some entertaining football, the defending was alarmingly similar to the experiences that have kept us up at night over the past year-and-a-bit.

It was worrying to see how much we missed Kolo Toure at the ground of the club that then occupied bottom spot in the Premiership table.

Kolo's qualities are evident and any team would miss him but the man is 35. We should be able to rest him and have his deputies perform professionally.

That seemed too much for Celtic and that shows something of how much work has yet to be done. (Maybe our recent games will ultimately prove to have a positive effect – “like a new signing” ©BFDJ).

After the Barca game, Celtic fans were commendably understanding of the result, given the challenge faced and the early stage of development. But that sort of indulgence shouldn't be taken for granted by any of the players.

What was needed today was a professional performance – not five or six goals – just the sort of “back-to-business” response that should follow a truly awful mid-week result.

What we got was some highly-entertaining football but with hapless, leaderless defending and a sense that some of the forward players thought the win was a fait accompli.

Yes, Fon Williams was outstanding in goal (remember how that used to feel?) but that doesn't tell the whole story.

Celtic had 23 shots on goal, only nine of which were on target. That seems to reflect my perception of a game in which too many players were taking speculative efforts, instead of ruthlessly getting the game won.

And that's not good enough.

We all expect to win the league again but the Celtic shirt does not shrink to fit big-time Charlies, as a founding father might have said, if he had been watching.

We should not be defending as if scared teenagers, whenever Kolo Toure is not around, and nor should we expect three points when donning the fur coat but eschewing the intimate undergarments, in attack.

A professional performance would have been one that converted possession into chances and chances into goals in a reasonable ratio.

We cannot expect to have a properly balanced squad after a few months of the Rodgers era, following years of “asset management” by the men in sharp suits.

That said, on the back of the worst result that anyone under the age of 114 has experienced in their lifetime, some proletarian graft should have preceded any desire to be flash.

It is the natural order of things.

After failure, follows humility. With humility you learn to focus on basic values, which lead to success, which allow you to flourish.

This team is generally doing well and exceeding expectations – we are not ready for the car park.
But we need to get our priorities in focus.

Being in the Champions League is great. It is where we belong and we must rise to its challenges.

But neither are we too great for the Scottish Premiership. It is also where we belong and we must respect its challenges, too.

We have the best players, coaching staff, stadium – everything – in Scotland.

But we should always choose confident humility over arrogant complacency.

Play well, play fair, entertain – but get the job done, Celtic.
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