A blessing- Kris Commons explains Celtic’s unlikely title boost

Kris Commons believes that Celtic’s European exit is a blessing and that the hoops could be out of sight in the SPFL by the time of the next Glasgow derby. 

After yesterday’s weary performance at Hibs no-one at Celtic will be looking beyond Wednesday’s match at home to St Mirren, two wins in five matches isn’t the form of champions or champions-in-waiting. 

Losing 5-1 on aggregate may just have jarred Celtic’s pride as well as confidence, the form at the end of February is unrecognisable from that at the start of the month. 

After the match against St Mirren Celtic have no midweek matches until after the split, getting down to basics with a fully trained and refreshed squad will be warmly welcomed by Ange Postecoglou. 

Picking up on Commons’ column in the Daily Mail, the Daily Record reports: 

Van Bronckhorst needs to stop the slide, which won’t be easy given their continued progress in Europe. That could stretch the squad to its limit to keep on going Thursday-Sunday, Thursday- Sunday.

The blessing for Celtic is that they no longer have that problem. They can devote 100 per cent of their focus and energy into winning a league title from now until the end of the season. 

Rangers will, of course, argue that they will do the same. But the way in which they’ve spilled points after two huge results against Dortmund suggests a problem with their mentality. 

It’s something they need to address as soon as possible. If they don’t, then Celtic might well be out of sight by the time they visit Ibrox for the next Old Firm match on April 3. 

Absolutely no one at Celtic will be thinking of Commons’ ‘out of sight’ claim with matches against St Mirren and Livingston this week. 

April 3 at Ibrox will be telling, going there with full points from March is the position that Postecoglou and his squad are aiming for.