Celtic Is Nearing Peak Strength But To Win This League We Need Our Best Form.

Had it not been for Callum McGregor’s uncharacteristic mistake, I firmly believe we’d have won the game at Ibrox. They had scored from the penalty spot, but we didn’t look under the kind of pressure that would have broken us.

Sima’s goal was not exactly the sort to have fans talking for years; Callum’s misplaced pass put us in trouble. Then his slipping at the last second caused the deflection. With two more weeks under him, neither would have happened.

The first half display was as good as we could have hoped to witness from our side. But Hatate got tired. Iwata got tired. Both are just back from spells out with injury. As these guys get stronger so will we. On top of that, Kyogo is back on form and we look as if we have found the perfect backup for him in Adam Idah, someone who can do it when it counts.

There is not a player in this Celtic side who will not have taken great heart from that display at the weekend. Callum will be the only one feeling angry at himself. He will fight through it. He will get the chance, at Celtic Park, to make up for his error.

This has been a season of ups and downs, but the title race is finely poised as we go into the last six games, and we have the narrow advantage of the home game against their club to come. But our real advantage lies in getting the big players back; you saw how even a half-fit Hatate played well at Ibrox and how the team plays better when he’s in it.

It just feels as if the pieces are all starting to fit together, as if this team of ours is starting to motor at the moment when you would most want it to happen. We have blown a league lead which we should have used to cruise into the latter stages of the campaign, but that we’re still in it should fill our rivals with dread and our own side with surging hope.

Listen to Rodgers, and the players who have spoken since the game; they are believers. They are as confident as I’ve heard Celtic players in a while.

Here’s the thing; we’ve only won six league games on the bounce once since this season started. It’s been such a stop-start campaign, one where I don’t feel as if we’ve hit our stride at any point. Our last six game run came when we won at Ibrox at the start of the season; it included one of our most impressive displays, which was the 4-1 win at Tynecastle.

But that was also the last game of the six; we drew 0-0 with Hibs six days later. It just never feels like we got up a head of steam. That’s what we need right now … but for the first time since that early spell, I feel as if the team is in the right place.