Yesterday Celtic Women took a stumble. But we’re neither down nor out.

It is impossible today to feel anything but sympathy for the Celtic women’s team and its current travails. Yesterday, the manager blasted the side for what she called the worst performance she had seen since she took over, and it was a game of football we should have won.

Hearts scored with their one decent attack, but the Celtic women’s side wasn’t as good as it could have been, and it’s been a long time since I’ve had to write something like that about them.

This is a team that, over recent seasons, has set incredibly high standards for itself. Week in, week out, the Celtic women have delivered performances that left fans and pundits alike full of admiration. It wasn’t just the results, but the style of play and the grit they showed on the pitch. That’s why this latest performance feels like such a departure from what we’ve grown accustomed to. The drop-off in energy and intensity was palpable, and the manager wasn’t shy about pointing it out.

The manager said what she said. She had to say it because she can’t allow the standards to drop. Celtic have built a reputation as one of the top women’s teams in the country, and protecting that legacy demands accountability at every level.

“It is not good enough,” she said. “I am just happy that we have players coming back who have energy, like Amy Gallacher and Lucy Ashworth-Clifford, important players for us. I am very disappointed, but we need to learn from this and make sure it never happens again – I will make sure it never happens again.”

These are the kinds of statements we expect from a manager who knows that complacency is the enemy of success. The team, no doubt, will respond to this rallying cry, but there’s no denying that for the first time in a while, they seem to be feeling the strain.

One of the problems, it seems clear, is that for the first time, this is the Celtic women’s team not only defending a title – with all the pressure that entails – but also competing on several different fronts. That’s a burden that would put any team under real pressure, and it’s showing.

In the men’s game, we often talk about the difficulty of juggling league commitments with European football. The women’s team is now experiencing that same challenge.

They’ve got domestic obligations, but they’re also trying to make a mark on the Champions League stage. That’s a different beast altogether. It’s one thing to dominate in Scotland, but Europe is an entirely new arena with its own demands, and it’s unforgiving. The level of competition in Europe is higher, and the mistakes that might go unpunished in the domestic league are ruthlessly exploited in continental competitions.

The women’s team is still in a good position, and their league standing isn’t great at the moment. They’re also facing the prospect of morale-sapping defeats in the Champions League. And although I think, in the fullness of time, they will learn from those defeats and be better off for it, in the here and now, that’s going to be tough to take.

But there’s little that can be done about it. This is what happens when a team is successful. When they are successful, they have to play more games. They have to defend their titles and their trophies. They have to play European football, and they have to compete against a better level of opponent. The very fact that they are champions means they’re the team everyone in the country wants to beat all the time.

This is pressure. The pressure that comes from being at the top, the pressure that comes from being the best. And these girls are still the best. We didn’t win the league by accident last season; we were the best team over the campaign, no matter what the Ibrox women’s manager tells herself during her rants. In spite of some of these recent results, I still believe we’re watching the best women’s team in the country. That only changes when someone else pries the league championship trophy out of our hands.

The Ibrox club is probably pretty pleased with that result; I daresay, in fact, that they are really delighted by it. But as usual, I suspect they are celebrating way too early. Nobody smart would be writing off our girls this early.

This season has a long way to go. Celtic Women have overcome adversity before, and this moment is no different. The squad still possesses the quality, depth, and character needed to turn this around. If anything, this rough patch will serve as a wake-up call, a reminder that no one stays at the top without constant effort.

The league campaign is still in its early stages, and with players returning from injury and a determined manager at the helm, I have no doubt that we will see a response worthy of champions. The rest of Scottish women’s football may have relished this stumble, but they shouldn’t get too comfortable. This is far from over.