‘When has it ever been this bad?’ – McCowan haunted by Celtic form

When has it ever been this bad, questioned Luke McCowan? following Celtic’s 3-1 home loss to Rangers on Saturday.

Rangers drew level on points with their city rivals despite leading 1-0 at half-time when the reigning champions fought back three times in 22 minutes.

With 20 of 38 games played, Glasgow and Celtic are now six points clear of Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic.

Brendan Rodgers, the manager of Celtic, left after losing to Dundee and Hearts, to open the season with five victories and two draws from nine league games.

While interim boss Martin O’Neill has won five straight league games, Wilfried Nancy is currently in charge of just two of his six, with Saturday’s defeat being his fourth defeat of the season.

After winning 13 of their previous 17 titles, Celtic have lost to St Mirren 3-1 in the Premier Sports Cup final. They have also missed out on the previous two domestic titles. Additionally, they have won 13 of their previous 14 league titles.

When has it ever been this bad, you ask? “Let’s call a spade a spade.” McCowan, a midfielder who joined Celtic in the summer of 2024, said, “It’s never”.

The former Dundee player continued, “It’s not nice. From the perspective of the player, I’ll say that. You are not left. When you’re not winning, it bothers you every second of the day.

“Getting home, not talking to anyone, lying on the couch, not moving, just doing that black screen,” not the football highlights or darts.

“But that is what comes with playing with Celtic,” I said. You must bear that strain. You must arrive there. You must display personality, but sometimes we don’t do that well enough in games.

We’ve not done it well enough within the structure, they say. But that’s the current kind of message that’s just so awful. We must work together and persevere.

At the break, Celtic had a one-point lead before Celtic lost after a similar blow to Dundee United away.

We didn’t react well enough to Rangers because they changed shape, McCowan said.

We simply aren’t doing it as well as we should. Simply put, it isn’t good enough.

“I’m probably going to say that at least 20 times in these interviews, but it needs to be better.