A naive Celtic side were given a Champions League reality check on Tuesday night. The Bhoys took a 3-0 lead to Austria, and they even made it a 4-0 lead against LASK in the first half, but a horrific collapse saw them concede the next five goals and lose 5-4 on aggregate after extra time.
LASK scored three times, including once in the first half and two before the hour-mark. They went on to force a top save from Viljami Sinisalo and hit the bar, which then deflected off the back of Sinisalo and crawled along the right side - as far as Celtic are concerned - of the goal line.
But LASK got their goal when Sinisalo pulled off a remarkable save only for Sebastian Tounekti to not bother marking his man, allowing a free rebound. The brilliant Samuel Adeniran then scored the winner from range in extra time, completing a brace.
It was a sensational collapse from the Bhoys, who should have come through this test relatively comfortably, especially after making it four.
Yes, the pitch was dreadful. Yes, there was a great atmosphere in the stadium.
But Celtic threw the game away. They started the game poorly, and when they got in front, it got much worse. There were sloppy passes everywhere, poor decisions over when to take players on, awful crosses and poor finishing when there were chances.
Game management was non-existent. Celtic couldn't keep the ball, and they barely looked as though they were trying to. It looked as though the pitch was too big for them, often stretched and rarely able to find one another.
You have to be smarter when trying to kill a game off, but it is not all the fault of these players.
Celtic board's ineptitude shows
You can picture it now. After all of the criticism and doubt over their summer business, Celtic's chiefs will have been sitting there, smiling after seeing their side maintain a 100% record through their first four games and take a 3-0 lead in the first leg.
With the new signings starting well, it looked as though they had done quality business, with that business offering some sort of vindication.
But while the quality of the signings has been good, we have been arguing for weeks that the business has not been good enough regardless. You cannot expect to qualify for the Champions League with one senior left-back, one available defensive midfielder in a system that requires two to start, and no senior back-up goalkeeper.
The goalkeeper was not relevant here, but who knows what would have happened if Viljami Sinisalo, who repeatedly saved Celtic over the two legs, wasn't available. The lack of depth behind Tierney showed after he was forced off after 70 minutes, with Liam Scales having to deputise on the left, and as for the midfield situation...my goodness.
The midfield sold out the defence over and over, and you feel for Callum McGregor, who was left on his own more often than not. Mika Baur isn't a defensive midfielder, and it showed over and over. That's not a slight on him, but it just is not his position.
But how on earth can Celtic find themselves in this situation? Every man and his dog knew that Arne Engels would leave, and he went for £22million, no less. Celtic have had the money to sign a replacement, and they did not have to wait for the Champions League prize money. That was a giant gamble, to try to go without one until the money was guaranteed. They now have their just deserts for that gamble.
The Bhoys could have signed Marcelo Saracchi, who did fine for Celtic last season, for just £1.5million and had back-up for Tierney, even if they went out and got further back-up with the qualification money.
They could even have signed a cheap holding midfielder to fill the gap to get them through these games, knowing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was likely to miss at least one of the games.
We can go on and on. The bottom line is that Tuesday night's performance was shambolic, but it is in line with the tone set by the board this summer.
Celtic's recruitment this summer, even with some quality signings, has been unacceptable and purely dysfunctional.
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