Bouncy balls, points gaps & Honda Civics - inside Celtic's dismal day

Bouncy balls, Honda Civics, fan protests and a five-point gap.

It was a chaotic and potentially ominous afternoon from start to finish for Celtic against Dundee as their stuttering season continued with a first defeat at Dens Park since 1988.

Clark Robertson's towering header and Cameron Carter-Vickers own-goal put the hosts 2-0 up before half-time and they defended superbly as a unit throughout to repel everything Celtic threw at them.

Brendan Rodgers' side remain five points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts following Derek McInnes' side's 3-0 victory at Rugby Park on Saturday and have now failed to score in six matches already this season.

Since they were knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich in February, Celtic have failed to win 13 of their 29 games with a 55% win rate in that time.

All is not well in the east end of Glasgow and the loss at Dens encapsulated their troubles both on and off the pitch.

Celtic's miserable afternoon was foreshadowed before a ball had been kicked in anger when sections of their sizeable travelling support halted play immediately by throwing bouncy balls and tennis balls on to the pitch.

There were loud calls for the club's board to be replaced with banners unfurled showing red circles and red lines through the faces of chief executive Michael Nicholson, chairman Peter Lawwell and chief financial officer Christopher McKay.

"The negativity that goes around affects players on the pitch," former Motherwell captain Stephen Craigan said on Sportsound.

"There seems to be a cloud hanging over the club and I think it's putting a bit of fear into the players.

"There's clearly some sort of confidence problem, or whether it's just the noise outside, it's impacting them as a group because they are not anywhere near their best."

However, Rodgers refused to use the protest as an excuse after the 2-0 defeat.

"We had 90-odd minutes afterwards to be better," Rodgers said. "The protest has nothing to do with defending a corner or giving the ball away and losing the ball on the counter.

"We have to be better and ultimately, we have to look on the pitch first and foremost."

A theme of Celtic's season has been Rodgers bemoaning their transfer business and a perceived lack of quality brought into the club.

He has regularly been asked about and pointed out the goals that have been taken out of his squad with the sales of Kyogo Furuhashi last January and Nicolas Kuhn in the summer, in addition to Jota's long-term injury absence.

Sebastian Tounekti and Michel-Ange Balikwisha arrived to bolster Rodgers' attacking options after they had already been dumped out of Champions League qualifying by Kazakh champions Kairat, while Kelechi Iheanacho arrived on a free after the window had closed.

And after they failed to fire in attack once again, Rodgers appeared to criticise the quality within his squad.

"I think the challenge from the summer, now leading into here, where we lost a lot of firepower, a lot of goals out on the team," he said.

"And there's no way you'll go into a race and be given the keys to a Honda Civic and say, 'I want you to drive it like a Ferrari'. It's not going to happen."

He insists it is up to him to find "solutions" to their goal-scoring issues, be it through changes to personnel or formation.

"Until something changes, I have to find the solutions," he added.

"Because like I said, goals, speed, everything has come out of the team and we need to find a way to be better.

"We had the opportunities to do what we needed to do. It didn't happen, so now it's finding ways, whether it's 4-3-3, whether it's 3-4-3, whether it's 3-5-2. We're trying to look at all these different permutations within the team."

Both Tounekti and Balikwisha prefer to play on the left flank, meaning Rodgers is either playing fringe players down the right side or shoehorning the likes of Daizen Maeda - injured for the trip to Dens - into unfamiliar roles.

"They have somehow managed to regress and have a weaker squad than they did last year," former Scotland striker Steven Thompson said on Sportsound.

"But these are international players, players of a high pedigree who should be putting in better performances than they are."

With a run of six matches in the next three weeks - including a Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Rangers - there is no time for Celtic to lick their wounds.

Searching for a first win of the season in the Europa League, Celtic welcome Sturm Graz to Parkhead on Thursday before they return to league action with a mouth-watering clash against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.

One would be hard pressed to find two clubs with more contrasting moods at present and a win for the home side would take them eight points clear at the top of Scotland's top flight - a notion that would have been laughable mere months ago.

There is still an awful lot of football to be played this season, but Celtic need to start delivering both wins and performances if they are to lift the gloom surrounding the club.

"Celtic, just now, are not a club that is moving together," former Aberdeen and Scotland defender Willie Miller said.

"They're still not sure about Brendan's future, the boardroom seems reluctant to spend the funds they've got and the manager is definitely not happy."

Another former Scotland international echoed that view.

"When you're playing as a footballer in a team that's winning all the time, it becomes easy and you're confident," Steven Thompson said.

"You go onto the pitch with no thoughts other than we're going to win this game. Wee seeds of doubt are starting to creep in, negativity, it spreads like wildfire.

"Creatively, they're miles away from any Celtic team that we've watched in the last three or four years. Miles away in terms of making opportunities."

Jim: Disgraceful at every level. Manager appears to be clueless and most of the players are not fit to wear the jersey.

Tam: Pathetic! Not a single player worthy of the shirt. Everything we've built over the years has been ruined by the greed of the board. They should hang their heads in shame. The real Celts, which are the fans, have been taken for granted by a board that have no clue. How much money do these people need? Greed sickens me!

Bryan: Well done, Dundee deserve it. Celtic absolutely embarrassing today and need to seriously think how they can improve because that team was pathetic. No fight, no passion and no honour in a Celtic jersey.