No huddle, no fight – and little hope for lifeless Celts
There was no cuddle in the huddle and nothing here either to remotely warm the cockles of Hoops boss Neil Lennon and his self-isolating stars.
Had Efe Ambrose, a Celtic regular from 2012-17, shown a tiny bit more composure with a free header from six yards out, it would have been even worse.
Livingston would have had their first-ever win at Celtic Park and no-one could reasonably have begrudged them their success.
As it was, the draw extends the West Lothian outfit’s terrific run under the charge of manager David Martindale to eight wins and a very impressive draw.
Celtic, meanwhile, have lost yet more ground on Rangers with the two games since their return from Dubai having yielded just two points out of a possible six.
Should the Light Blues beat Motherwell this afternoon, they will be 23 points behind.
While they would have three games in hand even if they were to win them all, they would still have the proverbial mountain to climb to come even close to catching Steven Gerrard’s side.
Just like last Monday night, the Irishman, his assistant John Kennedy and 14 of the Celtic players were all notable by their enforced absences.
Christopher Jullien recorded a positive covid test on his return from the controversial trip to Dubai and the remainder have been ruled out because of close contact with him.
With technology allowing Lennon to run things remotely, the manager picked the team.
And with the draw against Hibs five days earlier having flagged up the rawness of some of the young players handed emergency promotions, there was a back to basics feel about the line-up.
Out went Stephen Welsh and Cameron Harper. In came the muscular Anthony Ralston and Israeli internationalist Nir Bitton, with Tom Rogic pushed up front.
It was a move that showed an emphasis on the here and now rather than the future, but, even with plenty of experience about the pitch, Celtic played like a team which had just been chucked together.
Livi boss David Martindale had suggested that even excluding their many absentees, the hosts had access to some £50 million worth of talent.
Here as they struggled to hold his beautifully balanced collection of bargain basement buys, it looked a piece of crazy over-inflation.
Josh Mullin, Jon Guthrie and the two Scotts, Pittman and Robinson, all impressed more than anyone clad in green and white hoops.
By contrast, Rogic, an Australian internationalist and a man of no little talent, made almost no impact.
He might have been out of his comfort zone, certainly, but he didn’t appear to want to do much to battle and scrape to get Celtic a result that would have lifted confidence.
A couple did okay: Ismaila Soro and David Turnbull, aged 22 and 21 respectively, continue to look at home in this Celtic side, but overall there
were far too many who disappointed.
In fairness to Lennon, having seven attackers out would hinder anyone and here they were up against opposition who showed themselves to be more than decent.
Livingston were positive from the start, Jon Guthrie sending a crisp half volley just wide of Conor Hazard’s left hand post.
They were a constant threat with Anthony Ralston’s crunching tackle on Craig Sibbald at the edge of the box serving them up another opportunity.
Josh Mullin got plenty of dip and swerve on the set-piece, too much in fact with his effort curling past the post.
The second half brought more of the same with the Livi forwards going even closer when a shot struck the crossbar.
Celtic’s best chance came late on with Armstrong Oxo-flex, a late sub for the ineffectual Rogic, inches short of grabbing his first goal for the club.
On another day, both men will get better reward.