Benjamin Nygren has hit back at the media over their criticism of Celtic's recent rotten run of form that has seen them lose three straight games.
The Hoops have lost back-to-back Old Firm fixtures either side of a Europa League defeat to Ferencvaros. Those defeats also come in the context of Celtic having suffered that infamous four-goal collapse to LASK in their Champions League qualifier.
Celtic have looked like a team that cannot handle big occasions, and the flat nature of their performances have been a major concern.
The media has taken aim at Celtic, even with them still top of the Premiership, and Nygren is not impressed. He told Fotbollskanalen: "As you know, those of you who work in the media, it tends to be black or white.
“As a player, there’s no point in going in and reading things that people write in moments like these. You don’t gain anything by going in and reading stupid comments.
“There are so many people who care about how things are going and I see that as something very cool and nice. I just try to do my best all the time and, as a team, you can’t always win every game, even though we aim to do so.”
Does Nygren have a point?
The Celtic star is right to say Celtic players shouldn't be reading the crticism. That's the best approach. Just get on with getting better - you need no reminding that things need to improve.
But while there is always going to be some over the top criticism, the criticism itself is certainly valid. As we have repeatedly said, losing games is one thing. Bad performances happen, as do bad runs of form.
But a team cannot play as flat as the Bhoys have over the last few weeks, especially in Old Firm fixtures, and expect not to be slammed by fans and the media. It's not good enough to put on performances devoid of true effort in Old Firm fixtures, when you have to almost be willing to die for the result.
The performances have been flat, and even that can happen, but not repeatedly and not without players on the pitch becoming enraged. What we saw was Celtic players accepting their fate and then failing to address it for the second Old Firm, and once again accepting it. It's not good enough. That justifies the criticism.
Add us as a preferred source on Google