Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
NO EXCUSE FOR THAT SAYS JER
0 Livingston 0
JEREMIE FRIMPONG refused to offer any excuses for Celtic’s title capitulation.
The champions’ crown is close to being ripped off as, despite Rangers’ slip at Motherwell, they still trail the leaders by a massive 21 points.
Back-to-back home draws with Hibs and Livingston following the Old Firm loss 16 days ago has left their 10 in a row hopes in ruins.
Celtic’s situation was not helped in the past two matches by the loss of 13 players due to Covid-19 protocols following the disastrous consequences of the mid-season training trip to Dubai.
Neil Lennon’s back-up squad were not able to deliver wins with coach Gavin Strachan in the technical area and Frimpong admits it was down to those available to produce the goods.
Assessing the stalemate with the Lions, he said: “It just wasn’t good enough from us. We didn’t get the result we were looking for. We had to win.
“Of course we should have had enough out there to produce a better performance. Although there were a lot of players missing, there were enough regulars out there. That’s no excuse.
“The team that’s picked has to go out and perform. But we just didn’t do that.”
Celtic’s self-isolating players are scheduled to now be back at Lennoxtown alongside manager Neil Lennon and assistant John Kennedy ahead of Wednesday’s return meeting with Livi in West Lothian.
Sixteen individuals were missing again on Saturday but vice-captain Callum Mcgregor (inset) was in place and disappointed at the display.
He told Celtic TV: “It’s not good enough. We took far too long to get going in the first half and put ourselves under pressure. We didn’t really understand the game, in terms of trying to build out and giving them territory. It was really, really poor.”