Celtic were handed a bit of a wake up call by Bodo/Glimt. Ange Postecoglou’s side had been absolutely flying before that. They had not lost a game since November, had won the Scottish League Cup in December and went top of the Premiership table following a dominant 3-0 win over the Rangers earlier this month. The Hoops fell well short though against the Norwegian champions.

Bodo/Glimt walked out of Parkhead with a 3-1 win and having outplayed Celtic, leaving the Hoops’ chances of making it to the next round of the UEFA Europa Conference League hanging by a thread.

It was not a great performance on the part of Celtic, in all departments. Postecoglou appeared to get the selection right and then, the team underwhelmed all over the pitch. Even then, at one point, it had looked like they might have some hope when Daizen Maeda grabbed a goal back to make it 2-1 but the visitors would restore their two-goal cushion barely a minute later.

As reported by the Daily Mail, Callum McGregor said after the game:

‘If the game finishes 2-1, then you’ve got a real good chance,.

‘That’s the naivety we’ve got at this level in terms of being a new group.

‘So, we’ve got to learn from that. We’ll do the analysis and learn that you’ve always got to switch on, especially when you score. That’s probably when you’re at your most vulnerable.

‘We have to take that on the chin, reassess it, we go there next week and we try to turn it around.’

Celtic still have a lot of areas to work on

The combination of Tom Rogic and Matt O’Riley in midfield did not work at all. Maeda did not look ready to lead the line in a game of this magnitude. And Greg Taylor’s performance on the night raised a lot of questions.

There are a lot of things that did not go Celtic’s way against Bodo/Glimt on the night. Now, the big question is, was it because it was an off-day for the Hoops or is it because they are still a team that is not good enough to compete in the knockout phase of an European competition?

The performances against Bayer Leverkusen, AZ Alkmaar and Real Betis suggest otherwise. But after the one against Bodo/Glimt, it is starting to look like a case of one step forward and two back for Celtic.

This article was originally posted here