This international break has been awful. Can Celtic recover after it?

Normally, an international break lasts two weeks.

That is already long enough when you are a Celtic supporter who would rather be watching the Hoops than international football. But this time it has felt like three weeks emotionally as well as literally, because Celtic went into the break carrying three defeats and far too many unanswered questions.

When your team is winning, the break passes differently. There is frustration because you want Celtic back, but there is also confidence and something positive to hold on to. When your team has just suffered three defeats, it feels completely different.

There is anger. There is frustration. There is concern. And there are far too many questions floating around Paradise.

So yes, this international break has felt endless.

I hate having no Celtic to watch. I hate the silence, the lack of matchday excitement and that feeling of looking at the calendar and realising there is still another day before I can watch the team I care about again.

But the worst part has been knowing that Celtic entered this break needing answers.

Now, finally, the games are coming back. Thank God.

I never thought I would be so happy to see the end of an international break. Soon the anticipation will return. The nerves will return. The arguments will return. Hopefully the joy will return too.

But so will the questions.

Because three defeats do not disappear just because the calendar moves forward.

The 3–0 defeat at Ibrox does not disappear. The 3–1 defeat to Ferencvaros does not disappear. The 1–0 defeat to the Ibrox club at Celtic Park certainly does not disappear either.

Neither does the manner of those performances.

As a Celtic supporter, I can accept losing football matches. Nobody wins every game. But I find it much harder when I cannot see a clear identity in the team, when Celtic look disconnected, disorganised and at times almost leaderless.

I want structure. I want intensity. I want defensive solidity. I want midfield control and players taking responsibility.

Above all, I want to recognise Celtic again.

That is why the return to football fascinates me so much.

Will we see a changed face of Celtic?

That is the question I keep asking myself.

Will Martin O’Neill use this break to rethink certain things? Will we see tactical adjustments? Will the coaching staff respond to the weaknesses which were exposed so brutally before the break?

Or will we simply see the same Celtic again?

The same system, the same problems, the same lack of cohesion and the same frustrations?

I genuinely do not know, and that uncertainty is probably the most interesting thing about the next Celtic match.

International breaks can be useful for football teams. They provide time to recover physically and mentally. They give coaches an opportunity to analyse performances without another fixture arriving immediately. They allow weaknesses to be worked on rather than simply discussed.

For Celtic, I hope this break has been exactly that.

A reset, not an excuse.

I want to believe the Celtic we see next will be a team that has learned something from those defeats. I want to see a side which understands that what happened before the break cannot simply be allowed to happen again and again.

Because this is Celtic.

We should not accept repeated failure and simply hope the next game fixes everything.

Something has to change.

Maybe it will be tactical. Maybe it will be psychological. Maybe players simply need their confidence back. But I need to see something different.

I know repetition can be useful when you are learning. You repeat something until it becomes natural.

In football, repeating the same mistakes does not make them disappear.

It turns them into habits.

And Celtic cannot allow these mistakes to become habits.

That is why I will be watching beyond the result when the Hoops return.

Of course I want Celtic to win. I want three points. I want goals. I want that wonderful feeling of watching the green and white machine roar back into life.

But I also want evidence that something has been learned. Evidence that the team is better organised. Evidence that the midfield has more authority. Evidence that the defence looks more secure.

I want to see that champions’ mentality again.

I want to see a Celtic team which walks onto the pitch expecting to dominate, not one hoping that somehow everything will work itself out.

And perhaps that is why, despite everything, I am becoming excited about the return of football.

After the anger, frustration and concern, we finally have something new to look forward to.

A Celtic match.

That beautiful, maddening, wonderful thing which has been missing for far too long.

I will probably shout at my screen. I will probably question a substitution. I will probably praise a player five minutes after criticising him.

That is football. That is Celtic.

Soon the waiting will be over. The shirts will be back on the pitch and the supporters will once again be talking about formations, players, goals, referees, substitutions and everything else that comes with being a Celtic fan.

I will be watching with hope in my heart but questions in my head.

Will this international break have given Celtic the reset we desperately needed?

Will the anger of those three defeats become determination?

Will we see a different Celtic?

Or will we simply return to the same problems which forced us into this uncomfortable period of reflection?

Nobody knows yet.

And that is what makes the next game so important.

The international break has given Celtic distance from those defeats. Now the team has the opportunity to show us what it has learned from them.

I am ready for Celtic to come back.

But I am also ready to judge what I see.

Because I do not just want Celtic back.

I want my Celtic back.

And when that first whistle finally blows, I will be watching to discover whether we have been given a new beginning or simply another chapter of the same old story.

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