Callum McGregor has called for calm heads as Celtic look to dig themselves out of a hole in the title race.
Sunday’s 2-0 loss away to Dundee United ensured Martin O’Neill’s side went into the international break five points behind Hearts and two off Rangers.
With just seven matches remaining in the Premiership, Celtic are seeking to become the first team in the three-points-for-a-win era to claim the title while losing eight games.
With their championship rivals playing first on Easter weekend, the pressure may be turned up further on O’Neill’s side when they take on Dundee at Dens Park.
Asked if he concurred with his manager’s view that the champions now couldn’t afford another slip-up, the captain said: ‘Listen, time will tell. We’ll see if we need to win them all or not. But I think we have to go on a run.
‘Certainly, you’ve got to win at least five or six to have a good chance. So, listen, we know where we are.
Callum McGregor was left to reflect on a damaging afternoon after Celtic’s defeat at Tannadice
‘I think now’s the time for calm heads. It’s an emotional situation, of course it is. But we have to be calm and understand where we want to be as a team and how we’re going to get there. And then ultimately it’s about the players then carrying that out on the pitch as well.’
Having come from two goals down to take a point away to Rangers then beaten Aberdeen and Motherwell, the weekend reverse came just when it looked like Celtic were beginning to gain momentum in the title race.
Despite the Tannadice surface being rutted, McGregor offered no excuses for a deeply uninspiring performance.
‘Poor afternoon, poor result, poor performance as well,’ he reflected. ‘I think we have to be honest. Over the two spells with Martin and Shaun (Maloney), I think that’s probably the worst that we’ve been.
‘When you go to Tannadice, it’s difficult. Obviously, everyone sees the conditions, of course it plays a factor in the game.
‘You want to try and overcome that, of course you do. But I think we have to look at ourselves. We never did enough.
‘We never really created that many chances either. It’s one we have to take on the chin. Now we’ve got a wee break to go away and dissect it. And when we come back, we have to dial in.
‘There’s a huge seven games to try and be as good a team as we can be. And hopefully we do enough in those seven games to be where we want to be.’
Although the defeat on Tayside makes Celtic outsiders in a three-horse race, the 32-year-old doesn’t feel that it was necessarily fatal.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ he stressed. ‘You don’t want to lose football games and that’s obvious. But there’s still so much football to be played.
‘The top six teams are really competitive. So, there’s points to play for there.
‘We have to look at what we can do and be as good as what we can be in terms of what we’ve got. And then put a run together that gives us the best chance of winning the league.’
Champions for the past four years, McGregor is optimistic that Celtic’s knowhow in getting over the line can still make the difference in the coming two months.
McGregor tries to stop United’s Max Watters advance as the champions slump to defeat
‘People will be emotional and angry about the result,’ he said. ‘None more so than the players. It’s their life in there.
‘But at a time like this, you need to be calm. You need to understand where the team needs to get to, what we need to do to be successful.
‘So, we’ve been here many, many times. And once these games ramp up, we have to try and control as much of what we can do and hopefully go on a run.’
While Julian Araujo has returned to parent club Bournemouth for treatment on an unspecified injury, O’Neill is preparing to welcome back Alistair Johnston and Arne Engels after the international break.
‘There’s obviously been many challenges this season as well in terms of big players being missing for large periods of time,’ McGregor said.
‘It looks like we’re getting a couple back, who are big players for us. So, it really strengthens the squad again and gives us some options in terms of what we can do.’
