Greg Taylor felt a familiar lurch in the pit of his stomach when his attempt at goal rattled off the bar and was chalked up as yet another Celtic chance that went begging in the Champions League. But the Hoops ace admits the real problem is being sick of the same old story at his level.
Taylor is convinced Celtic are not far off when it comes to competing with the cream of the continent. They’ve shown it in spells against Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and last night in the second of two topsy turvy clashes with RB Leipzig. But history has repeated itself too many times now. Celtic have created a barrel load of chances but too often they’ve been snatched or scuffed, ballooned or bobbled, the wrong option picked or the final ball hurried.
In fairness to Taylor, it’s not usually his job to stick the ball in the back of the net but even his effort summed up Celtic’s struggled in front of goal that have left him feeling queasy.
He said: “I probably could’ve caught it a bit cleaner, but it came off the bar and then it doesn’t fall for us. But that’s what this level is, we’re a bit deflated to be fair.
“I thought we were looking good at that spell and again for periods right throughout the game. Maybe they started the night stronger and finished a bit stronger, but certainly that middle chunk we were right in that game, which is the sickening part.”
Boss Ange Postecoglou is convinced his side are close – and he’s not going to rip up his game plan now. Taylor doesn’t think the Hoops are a million miles away either but he knows what needs to happen in the final two group games and in future campaigns.
When it was put to him Celts have a long way to go to get up to this level, he said: “I wouldn’t say so. But with performances it doesn’t show that way, but in results it does.
“It’s just the elite level, I’ve said it before, we need to be that bit more ruthless at both ends and we’re not quite there yet. We have played well within the game. Everyone in the stadium can see that.
“There’s a team playing our football, we’re not deviating away from that at all. Every boy out there, the subs who came on, gave their absolute all for this club.
“That’s one thing I definitely want to say, the work the boys are putting in – defence, the whole group – is tremendous. We’re desperate for success, we wanted to show that we belong at this level. We really do.
“The fans who come with us home and away, we want to give them a night that they go home thinking ‘That was a right good Celtic team and a strong performance.’ But we’re just not there yet.”
There’s no doubt Celtic were hampered by injuries to key men. Captain Callum McGregor was a huge miss last night, as was main playmaker Jota. To add to the injury misery, Liel Abada limped off after almost 45 minutes of having his marker on toast.
Postecoglou refused to play the absentees card and Taylor didn’t either as he felt the side was good enough to get the job done last night. He said: “That’s why we have a strong squad. You see Matty coming, plays the six, and he’s outstanding.
“The boys up front Daizen creates a few massive chances and works his absolute heart out to the last minute. But that’s part of football.
“There are going to be injuries, but we don’t look for excuses. It’s not something we do. We just try and improve.”
There’s not a lot of wriggle room left in Group F. An elephant in a phone box would have an easier time doing a twirl than the Hoops with Shakhtar and Real Madrid still to come.
The Champions League is up the lum now but the Europa League is still a possibility. It will take something special mind you.
Celtic need to beat Shakhtar at Parkhead – with the Ukraine side on the back of a draw with Real, where the reigning champs needed a stoppage time leveller. Then the Hoops will need to avoid defeat in the Bernabeu.
Even the most cynical bookie might ask a punter if they are sure when parting with their pound for that one. Taylor won’t give up the ghost just yet though.
He said: “Two games to go and it’s going to be difficult. Of course it is. We need to beat Shakhtar first of all and then see where we’re at come the last game.
“It's easy for me to say we’re not far away from the first win because we’ve not done it yet. I’m hurting, we’re all hurting right now but all we can do is keep going and try to improve.”
Stand-in skipper Cameron Carter-Vickers admitted Celts need to sharpen up in front of goal if they are to have any slim hope. He said: “It was disappointing not to get a result. I thought for large parts of the game we played quite well.
“It’s Champion League football and you need to take your chances. It’s disappointing. This is high level football, You need to capitalise when you are on top and if you don’t it can be difficult.
“We need to keep working hard on the path we are going and hopefully we’ll get there. We have two games left and we want two positive results. Hopefully we can get there."
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