ALEX’S ANGLE: READY, STEADY…SLOW

CELTIC have plunged from the pinnacle to the pits inside a month.

Their alarming meteor-like fall from grace is in direct contrast to the football they are producing at the moment. Amid all the footering and fumbling, ready, steady, slow seems to be the order of the day.

The Hoops have gone from electrifying to exasperating in twenty-three extraordinary days since their dire presentation in Austria where they were four goals ahead with just an hour to play with the riches of the Champions League beckoning.

And then the trapdoor buckled under the weight of anxiety following the gift of a goal from Benjamin Nygren to the grateful LASK team just after the half-hour mark and jittery Celtic conceded another three minutes into the second-half.

Backsides fainted and heads went down in unison among the visiting squad and expulsion from European football’s most prestigious competition inevitably followed.

THE THINKER…Martin O’Neill ponders a question after Celtic’s Europa League loss.

Those among us who reckoned it couldn’t possibly get worse reckoned without the stupendously awful and utterly unacceptable exhibition at Ibrox on Sunday.

It’s no easy task watching a Celtic team without a backbone. Apologies, but I can’t dress up that particular dire offering which went way beyond embarrassing.

And then we were presented with last night’s distressing fayre. Ferencvaros were on the ropes and it looked only a matter of time before the opening goal arrived. It took twenty minutes before the ball nestled in the rigging, but, alas, it was deposited there by the wayward left foot of Liam Scales and handed the Hungarians the initiative.

A well-constructed manoeuvre was brought to a satisfactory conclusion when Mika Baur rifled in the equaliser following a fine pass from Kieran Tierney, a defender who seems to do his best work in attack these days.

That strike arrived in the 44th minute and surely I wasn’t alone in my thoughts that Martin O’Neill’s men would utilise the goal as a stepping stone to bigger and better things after the interval.

However, before the half-time whistle shrilled, the visitors had somehow conjured up another counter with four experienced Celtic players, every single one an international, switching off at the crucial moment.

Callum McGregor stood stock still as an opponent moved ahead of him to collect a pass, Tierney was turned inside and out before the right-wing cross was delivered and Cameron Carter-Vickers and Scales were caught on their heels.

ANGUISH…Callum McGregor reacts to a blocked shot.

Poor Viljami Sinisalo, afforded no cover by team-mates doing their utmost to impersonate exhibits in Madame Tussauds, had no chance as the Ferenacvaros player flicked the ball in from four yards.

This was about as far removed from textbook defending as you will ever witness.

Only moments after the restart, Scales was loose with a ball out of defence. Two passes later, Daniel Arzani was scampering through in a one-on-one duel with Carter-Vickers who looked as mobile as a Giant Redwood tree as the one-time Hoops loanee eased away from him before whipping a drive high into Sinisalo’s net.

In the previous Europa League encounter under the lights in the east end of Glasgow, VfB Stuttgart stuffed four shots behind Kasper Schmeichel on a dismal February evening last season.

Mercifully, Ferencavros were content with three.

The night didn’t exactly get off to a flier even before kck-off. Martin O’Neill’s genial Irishman’s mask slipped somewhat during his pre-match interview with TNT Sports’ reporter Connie McLaughlin.

Asked to explain his thinking behind the decision to bring back Sinisalo to replace Sam Johnstone, the veteran team chief snapped: “No, I won’t talk to you about the thinking behind that. Sinisalo was always going to play.

“Believe it or not Connie, my job is not to explain every single situation to you, much as you are going to ask and I’m delighted you are.”

Pressed by McLaughlin about the fact the club’s supporters may be interested in his reasoning, O’Neill answered: “Well, why don’t I tell the fans through Celtic TV?”

OWN GOAL AFTERMATH…Liam Scales displays his disappointment.

Maybe it was intended as a moment of whimsy, but it came across as simply churlish. Lord only knows how many of these interviews the 74-year-old gaffer has been involved in over the decades.

We all know a subject can answer an often trite query without any in-depth explanation. O’Neill could have simply said: “I believe Sinisalo is the man for the job on this occasion.”

Asked and answered. Let’s get on with taking care of business.

To be fair to O’Neill, he is an admitted serial worrier, so maybe tension was playing its part as kick-off neared.

However, we don’t need any carnivals rolling into town to act as a distraction. Focus should never be distorted.

The task was to get three points and Celtic failed miserably in their assignment as they once again plummeted off a cliff.

They will embark upon the same mission at the weekend when Derek McInnes’ Ibrox side provide the opposition in the Premiership at a stadium with 60,000 fans adding their vociferous encouragement for the champions.

There is an old adage that goes along the lines of you learn when you lose.

Let’s see how much knowledge O’Neill, McGregor and Co have garnered over the past few days when the ball rolls off the centre circle at precisely noon on Sunday.

ALEX GORDON