Celtic Will Not “Hit The Panic Button” Over A Single Defeat.

Before I criticise one element of his article today, let me for a moment let Kris Commons off the hook. He did not suggest, as some headlines have screamed, that Celtic “hit the panic button” and immediately set about dismantling huge chunks of the squad.

In fact, he used a phrase which we’re all familiar with here; “evolution, not revolution.”

I’ve used that expression many times on this blog, and that is what this summer requires. Commons gets that, and said so, and so some of the more lurid headlines which discuss his article in the mainstream press, and some of the what I can only surmise is deliberate spin on them is the media at its finest trying to stir the soup. Commons has actually been quite measured.

Everyone in the Celtic Family has been quite measured, in fact. We all recognise that it’s one result, one bad day at the office, and although a particularly nasty one, with a pretty sore sting, we’re not really any worse off from it.

Where I disagree with Commons is in his writing off of the whole backline who played at the weekend. It is way too early in the day to be doing that. His comments on Bernabei, in particular, reveal one dimensional thinking. He reckons that just because we spent good money on the player that he should automatically be our first choice.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to work. Bernabei has actually done very little wrong since signing for the club. And what he has got wrong I would tend to put down to his not getting an extended run in the team. There’s an example which comes readily to mind.

When Jack Grealish signed for Manchester City, it was ages before I understood what they had paid all that money for because they benched him and used him only sporadically. When he did play I honestly still couldn’t see what all the fuss was about.

But once he started to play regularly, once he embedded himself in the team, once he was a regular starter, we saw something change there. He now looks like the dynamic exciting footballer they paid the big bucks to get.

Because even a player like that does need time to settle, he does need to be playing regularly before you see his quality … and Bernabei just hasn’t had that chance yet, and the reason is that Greg Taylor has been exceptional. That’s not Bernabei’s fault.

As to the idea that Kobayashi was too easily bullied; I would suggest that we are, again, basing that off a single moment in a single match and it can’t be used as evidence that he’s not going to cut it. He may or he may not, but making a judgement based on one shaky performance is to ignore that Ange has a pretty good eye for a player.

We’re looking to horizons above and beyond Scotland; we’re looking to finally make an impact on Europe, and Ange will know a lot better than we will what needs to be done in that regard, but Commons has it right; it’s not going to involve a full-scale rebuild of any part of the team. Three quality additions to this squad will elevate it to an even greater level and put it on a solid footing for the next campaign and hopefully we’ll see those players come in over the summer.

Nobody at Celtic is hitting any “panic buttons.”

As I’ll write later, that’s the kind of stuff they do on the other side of the city. To their detriment.