Celtic-Aberdeen: Shambolic Defending Costs Celtic Three Points

A shocking defensive display from Celtic has gifted Aberdeen the three points which took them to third in the table, and thrown the title race wide open.

The day got off to a bad start for Celtic when Polish international goalkeeper Artur Boruc was injured in the warm-up before the game and had to be replaced by former Inverness CT keeper Mark Brown.

After an opening spell when Celtic appeared to be on the verge of breaking through, Aberdeen opened the scoring in what was to become familiar fashion as the game wore on.

A high ball was floated to the corner of the Celtic 18 yard box, and the header was missed by Gary Caldwell, allowing the waiting Stuart Duff to float another cross to the back post, where with the Celtic defence all at sea, Gary McDonald looped a header beyond the stranded Brown.

Celtic replied within a minute, Aiden McGeady reaching the by-line before cutting the ball back across the face of goal. A clever dummy from Scott McDonald allowed Scott Brown to slot the ball home for a quickfire equaliser.

Aberdeen took the lead again six minutes later, after Celtic captain Stephen McManus had to be taken from the field after a heavy fall. McManus appeared groggy as he was led to he touchline, and possibly Gordon Strachan could have considered replacing him at that stage.

With Celtic down to ten men, another high ball was played into the box. As Hinkel tried to clear, the ball spun into the air. Aiden McGeady appeared to be fouled as he tried to head the ball on, an Aberdeen player clattering him from behind.

No foul was given, and the ball broke from Georgios Samaras to Mark Kerr, whose high cross to the back post picked out the unmarked Duff to restore Aberdeen's lead.

Duff timed his run well, and despite the presence of two Aberdeen players in an offside position in between the penalty spot and six yard box when the cross was played, no offside was given.

In the second half, Celtic had all the pressure, despite their own defence looking extremely suspect every time even the most innocuous high ball was played forward.

There was an inevitability about the equaliser, which came with 15 minutes remaining, after good build-up play from Shunsuke Nakamura, who gave the ball to Barry Robson in a good position near the left touchline.

Robson wrong-footed the fullback before chipping in a perfect cross for Scott McDonald. The smallest player on the pitch headed Celtic level.

Aberdeen restored their lead immediately in controversial circumstances.

Yet another high ball was floated into the Celtic box—this time a beautifully flighted cross from ex-Celtic youngster Charlie Mulgrew—and caused all sorts of confusion in the Celtic defence.

The referee clearly blew his whistle before Zander Diamond launched himself at the ball, crashing it into the net with his head, and it appeared for a few seconds as though it would not count. Mystifyingly, referee Dougie McDonald then decided to award the goal, after all.

Aberdeen made sure of the points when yet another cross was played into the box from a freekick by Mulgrew. The ball was allowed to float across the six yard line, with Celtic keeper Brown rooted to the spot, before Diamond scored his second at the back post.

So, from being seven points clear of Rangers after their win at Ibrox on Dec. 27, Celtic are now just two points ahead of their Glasgow rivals, who are in danger of disintegrating off the park.

Celtic are not showing the form of Champions. Since beating Inverness CT on  Nov. 29, Celtic have won just two of six league games. They have beaten Rangers and Falkirk, but failed to beat Hibernian, Hearts, Dundee Utd, and now Aberdeen.

Even more worryingly, two of those matches were at home.

I said in a previous article that Celtic must sign some quality this month. There are two weeks left of the January transfer window, and the team—that's the starting XI, not the squad—is in serious need of strengthening.

The left back position has been a problem for Celtic for what seems like forever. How ironic, then ,to see former Celtic left back Charlie Mulgrew, in the form of his life at Aberdeen, causing such chaos in the Celtic defence with his dead-ball delivery today.

He also scored twice in Celtic's 3-2 win over Aberdeen in September—one of them a trademark freekick, the other a left foot shot which gave the Dons a 2-1 lead in that match.

The centre of defence is a shambles at the moment. Even the simplest of hit-in-hope high balls seems to induce panic stations, with hooped defenders tottering around like Bambi on ice, waiting for the ball to come down.

If this is not addressed (and many fans would point to two defenders on the bench today in Darren O'Dea and Glen Loovens who could solidify that soft centre),  points will continue to be dropped, and not just at venues in the top half of the league, which are tricky enough already.

A midfield playmaker and a striker would be gratefully welcomed by the Celtic support, but that would be a bonus. That left-back and central defender are urgently required before this inept defence cost Celtic the league.