Celtic’s difficulty retaining possession

Celtic played well to a point yesterday. We dominated the opening period but Hearts steadied and worked their way into the game. The old adage proved true; when you’re on top, you need to score. Unfortunately we couldn’t make the early pressure count.

I think it was coincidental that our period of domination ended around the time Stuart Armstrong was taken off injured. Stuart was not having such an overarching impact on the game, and James Forrest was an able replacement.

The goals eventually came from midfield, leaving us to defend a lead for the last 20 minutes. There’s not much you can do about Hearts added-time equaliser, which soared into the top corner, but our play in the final 10 minutes of the game was inviting the sucker punch. We couldn’t retain possession, often clearing the ball long, which allowed Hearts to launch forward again.

I wasn’t too concerned about the equaliser but we we’re going to lose late goals if we cannot retain possession.