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Callum McGregor has warned the Celtic squad that they have to learn fast to stand any chance of saving their season.
Sunday’s loss away to Hearts left Brendan Rodgers’ side eight points adrift of the Tynecastle outfit in the Premiership table.
Derek McInnes’ all-conquering outfit have dropped just two points in nine games to date and are firmly on course to become the first non-Old Firm team to win the title since 1985.
Back-to-back league losses for Celtic have come amid an air of unrest at the club with supporters furious at the board’s failure to properly reinvest this summer.
Following the latest setback in Gorgie, Rodgers was keen to shoulder responsibility for the current situation. But McGregor feels the onus is also on the players to look at their own part in what’s going wrong on the park — and fix it before it’s too late.
‘The players always have to take responsibility,’ the skipper stressed. ‘I’ve said it since day one. Even with distractions like the board and transfers, I’ve insisted the players must take responsibility.
Callum McGregor leads the Celtic players off the field at Tynecastle after Sunday's defeat
Dane Murray, Liam Scales and Kieran Tierney react following Murray's own goal opener
Lawrence Shankland races away to celebrate after his cut-back resulted in Murray's own goal
‘The only ones who can fix it are the players on the pitch. We’re in a difficult moment, but nobody else will save us. We can’t wait for someone else to take over; we have to fix it ourselves and learn faster than we are right now, or we won’t fix it.’
Celtic have failed to score in six of their 16 matches this season, with the three goals they lost to Hearts meaning they’ve now shipped 10 in their past five matches.
Evidently alarmed as the way his team is defending, McGregor added: ‘I said it last week, we’re too easy to play against.
‘We don’t really understand the small details in the game that can stop you from conceding goals. And then it’s a reaction thing rather than being proactive to make sure that you don’t give up the space.
‘So, that’s a learning process we’re on all the time, talking about it. It has to sink in at some point or else you’ll keep giving yourself a mountain to climb.’
While Celtic still have 29 games to retain their title, the players’ appetite for the fight is being roundly question.
McGregor insists the Celtic players have the hunger for the challenge ahead in catching Hearts
McGregor, though, refutes this and said: ‘The hunger is there. Everyone wants to win. nobody goes onto the pitch not to win.
‘But it’s about the detail of how we win. It’s not just about having the ball or being Celtic. You can create 15 chances a game, but if you’re 3-0 or 3-1 down, it doesn’t matter. You end up pressing the emergency button all the time. We need to understand as a team what gives us the best chance of winning matches.’
Asked if he believed the players grasped how serious the situation was, McGregor replied: ‘I think they understand the situation, but we need to turn that into action on the pitch.
‘We were excellent on Thursday night (against Sturm Graz), but we need to back it up three days later and again after that. Right now, we’re showing flashes but not consistently enough.
‘It’s a bit of everything — confidence, quality, and consistency. All these factors are part of what’s happening right now. When I see the level we reached on Thursday, it’s now about replicating that every three days. At the moment, we’re too up and down, too inconsistent.’
McGregor feels Hearts are deserving of all the praise that’s coming their way after a stunning start to the season.
Shankland's penalty put Hearts 3-1 up and kickstarted raucous celebrations at Tynecastle
‘They were good — typical of what you get when you come here,’ he acknowledged. ‘They won first and second balls, put it in the box, played direct and fed off the crowd’s energy. They scored at good times, so credit to them. They used everything they could to get a result.
‘We have to beat everyone if we want to win the league. They were good on Sunday, they’re eight points ahead, and we’re now the team chasing. If they’re at the top, then yes, we have to try to catch them.’
Rodgers’ side now has no margin for error as they prepare to face Falkirk on Wednesday.
‘When you don’t win games here, the next one becomes enormous,’ McGregor stressed.
‘That’s the case now. We have to win on Wednesday and again on Sunday (against Rangers). We need to find a way to get the message onto the pitch and make sure the players understand what’s required to win consistently.’
