Emotional Celtic situation needs 'calm', according to key figure as key players near return

In what was their eighth loss of the season, Celtic are now five points behind leaders Hearts and have slipped to third place in the standings behind Rangers with just seven matches left to play. Manager Martin O’Neill claimed afterwards that his team probably need to win all of them to stand a chance of being crowned champions in May.

Nevertheless, while McGregor admitted that Celtic’s performance at Tannadice was one of their worst of the season, he does not feel the result at Tannadice has killed off their title aspirations.

“It was a poor afternoon, poor result, poor performance as well,” said McGregor. “I think we have to be honest. Over the two spells with Martin and Shaun [Maloney, assistant manager], I think that's probably the worst that we've been. We've had a pretty bad day and we have to accept that. The players have been really, really good over the two spells.

“We have’s dropped too many points. When you come here, it's difficult. Obviously, everyone sees the conditions, the type of team that we want to be. Of course, it plays a factor in the game. You want to try and overcome that, of course you do. But like I said, I think we have to look at ourselves. We never did enough.

“We never really created that many chances either. So, it's one we have to take on the chin. Now we've obviously got a wee break and go away, dissect it. And when we come back, we have to dial in. There's a huge seven games and try and be as good a team as what we can be. And hopefully we do enough in those seven games to be where we want to be.”

‘Still so much football to be played’

When asked if the Dundee United defeat was fatal to their ambitions of retaining the league title, McGregor continued: “No, I don't think so. I think you don't want to lose football games and that's obvious. But there's still so much football to be played.

“The top five teams are really competitive. So, there's points to play for there. And like I said, 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.

“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. And 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 the players then carrying that out on the pitch as well.”

“It's about staying calm. I get it. It's emotional. People will be emotional and angry about the result. None more so than the players. It's their life in there. It's what they give to the game and what they give to the club. But in 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, once we get back, then we have to try and control as much as what we can do and hopefully go on a run.”

Celtic are set to welcome back some injured players after the international break, such as defender Alistair Johnston and striker Tomas Cvancara, and McGregor believes they can help lift the team - starting against Dundee on Easter Sunday when the league campaign reconvenes.

“There's obviously been many challenges this season as well in terms of big players being missing for large periods of time,” the skipper added. “It looks like we're getting a couple back, which are big players for us. So, it really strengthens the squad again and gives us some options in terms of what we can do. And like I said, it's on us, so we're happy to take that responsibility.”