Filed under: Football, Scotland
With just two months of the season gone it is not impossible that Celtic can close a 10-point gap to Rangers but playing like this it might as well be.Of course there is a game in hand as well but Celtic's current form does not have them looking like they can catch a team that has won nine consecutive league matches since drawing on the opening day and has no European competition to worry about.
Celtic are even a point behind Motherwell and the 2-0 loss at Hearts was Neil Lennon's side's third SPL defeat, only one fewer than they suffered in the whole of last season.
It is the manner or Celtic's displays that are the real cause for concern and Lennon has not held back in his criticism of his players.
Worryingly for Celtic supporters, Lennon has also questioned his players' mental strength.
Celtic legend Frank McGarvey has claimed that the current problems are due to Lennon not being backed in the transfer market during the summer.
There are 10 more SPL games before the next meeting with Rangers and not more than a couple of points can be dropped over that run if Celtic are to have any chance of breaking Rangers' domination.
"I'm always going to be under pressure and I'm not going to pull the wool over anybody's eyes," he told the Daily Record.
"We've lost three games already this season, we lost four all last season. It's a difficult position that I'm in but I understand the position as well.
"The players are going to have to turn this around - and I'm going to have to as well. But there's a lot of football to be played, six or seven months of the season left.
"People have questioned the mental toughness of my players. We did say to them, 'People are asking questions about you, go out and show them that you can handle the pressure'.
"How do we make them tougher? It must come from within. It's an indefinable quality that you can't just pass to someone.
"We do a lot of work dealing with, I wouldn't say the mental side, but giving them enough confidence to go and win games. A few heads dropped after the sending off and that was disappointing.
"A few players have to look at themselves and ask if they're doing enough at the minute. For me, they're not."
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