Last night, I had the pleasure of being at Celtic Park, watching my beloved Celtic face Dundee United. And, as a faithful supporter of the Boys in Green and White, did I expect more? Of course I bloody did!

When you support a club of Celtic’s stature, expectations are naturally high. We are Celtic, for goodness’ sake, not some mediocre football club that should be grateful for scraping a draw against Dundee United on our own patch!

Yet here we are, discussing another frustrating result, another performance that left me with more questions than answers, and another afternoon when I found myself wondering what on earth is going on with this team.

A 2-2 draw. At Celtic Park. Against Dundee United.

Seriously, Celtic, what is wrong with you?

Let me take you back to the first half.

When Camilo Duran scored that brilliant opening goal, I genuinely thought we were about to witness something considerably more entertaining. Surely, I thought, Celtic would build on that early breakthrough, find their rhythm, stretch Dundee United’s defence and give the supporters something to cheer about.

After all, we had not long ago witnessed Celtic demolish Hearts 7-1. Seven bloody goals! A performance that made us believe the green and white machine was finally beginning to click, that the players were finding their feet, and that Martin O’Neill might be getting something special out of this squad.

And then came yesterday.

Instead of watching Celtic take control and attack with the confidence expected of a team wearing those famous hoops, I found myself watching what resembled a mundane chess game, with the pawns moving painfully slowly across the board. One move here, another there, a little hesitation, a little sideways passing and precious little of the urgency that should characterise Celtic’s football.

Where was the ambition? Where was the attacking intensity? Where was that appetite to put the opposition to the sword?

I was sitting at Celtic Park expecting a performance that would make me jump out of my seat, not one that occasionally made me wonder whether the players were waiting for somebody to remind them that the match had actually started.

Dundee United, meanwhile, managed to score twice. And Celtic, despite their opportunities, struggled to impose themselves on the game in the manner we should expect.

I will give credit where it is due: Dundee United came to Celtic Park and made life difficult for us. But let us be perfectly clear. Their determination does not excuse our shortcomings.

The second half was hardly the footballing masterpiece I had been hoping for.

Celtic eventually found their second goal, but the wait felt longer than a snail’s journey across the entire length of Celtic Park.

I wanted to see urgency, intelligent movement and players taking responsibility. Instead, there were moments when our attacking play seemed to lack the conviction necessary to turn pressure into goals.

And this is precisely what frustrates me.

Celtic are capable of scoring goals. We have seen that. We have watched this team produce devastating attacking spells, create opportunities and overwhelm opponents. The 7-1 victory over Hearts was proof that there is quality within this squad.

So why does that quality appear and disappear with such alarming inconsistency?

One week, we are celebrating a magnificent result against Hearts.

Then comes disappointment in Europe, followed by a poor win over Hibs and then a domestic performance in which beating Dundee United becomes an unnecessarily complicated exercise.

Football is not always predictable, and no supporter should expect Celtic to win every match by three or four goals. I understand that perfectly well. However, there is a substantial difference between accepting that football can be difficult and accepting that Celtic repeatedly make their own lives harder than necessary.

The latter is becoming an increasingly irritating habit.

Now let me turn to the substitutions, because I expected considerably more from them.

When a match is slipping away from the performance standards Celtic should maintain, changes from the bench ought to provide a clear purpose. Fresh legs, a different attacking approach, improved movement or a tactical adjustment capable of unsettling the opposition. These are the things I want to see.

I do not want substitutions that leave me scratching my head and wondering whether we have actually addressed the problem on the pitch.

And what about Kasper Høgh?

I cannot help feeling frustrated when I look at players who possess qualities Celtic should be using to our advantage, yet somehow we continue to struggle to get the best out of them. Høgh should not be left feeling like another attacking puzzle that nobody at the club knows how to solve.

A striker needs the right service, intelligent movement around him and a system that allows him to make the most of his strengths. Simply putting a player on the pitch and hoping everything will magically fall into place is not a tactical plan.

If Celtic want to get the best out of Høgh, then the coaching staff must work out how to use him properly. That means understanding his strengths, creating opportunities for him and ensuring that the players around him contribute to a coherent attacking structure.

I am not suggesting that every problem lies with the manager or that every underperforming player is automatically blameless. Football is more complicated than that. But when the same frustrations keep resurfacing, somebody needs to examine the bigger picture.

And preferably before we lose more valuable points. This is perhaps the most infuriating aspect of yesterday’s draw.

Celtic had opportunities to turn the match into a 3-2 victory.

We had chances to finish the job, claim all three points and send the supporters home considerably happier than they were. Yet we struggled to find that decisive goal. Why?

That is the question I want answered.

When a club of Celtic’s stature creates opportunities against Dundee United at Celtic Park, I expect our players to demonstrate the composure, quality and determination necessary to take advantage of them. We cannot simply create chances, fail to convert them and then shrug our shoulders as though a 2-2 draw were an acceptable outcome.

Of course, football involves missed chances. Even the best strikers in the world fail to score sometimes. But there is a difference between an unfortunate afternoon in front of goal and a wider performance that makes scoring look unnecessarily difficult.

Celtic need to examine both.

Our finishing must improve, but so must the football that creates those chances in the first place. We need quicker decisions, more purposeful movement and a greater willingness to attack with conviction. We cannot rely on individual moments of brilliance to rescue us every time the collective performance falls short.

And, for heaven’s sake, we cannot expect the supporters to keep accepting dropped points simply because the team managed to score twice.

Let us look at the bigger picture.

Celtic beat Hearts 7-1, giving us every reason to believe that the team could build momentum and carry that confidence into the matches ahead.

Then came the European disappointment, and now this frustrating draw against Dundee United. I am not asking for seven goals every week. I am asking for consistency, clear tactical thinking and performances that reflect the standards of this football club.

A convincing victory should provide a foundation, not become an isolated memory that supporters revisit while wondering where that team has disappeared to.

Martin O’Neill and his coaching staff must look carefully at what happened yesterday. Why did Celtic struggle to control the match? Why did our attacking play lack the necessary urgency for long periods? Were the substitutions effective enough? And why did we fail to convert our opportunities into a winning result?

These are not unreasonable questions. They are precisely the questions that should be asked when a team with Celtic’s resources and ambitions drops points in a match it had opportunities to win.

The answers must lead to improvements on the pitch, not merely reassuring words afterwards. As a Celtic supporter, I will continue to back my club. That will never change. My loyalty to the green and white of Celtic does not depend on whether we win, lose or draw.

However, loyalty does not mean abandoning criticism. Quite the opposite. If we care about Celtic, we must be willing to say when performances are not good enough.

Yesterday’s 2-2 draw against Dundee United was disappointing, frustrating and, given the opportunities Celtic had to win the game, deeply unsatisfying. I wanted more. I expected more. And I believe Celtic supporters have every right to demand more.

We cannot celebrate a 7-1 victory over Hearts and then pretend that everything is fine when our team struggles to beat Dundee United. We cannot keep talking about Celtic’s ambitions while delivering performances that leave so much to be desired.

Celtic, please draw the proper conclusions. Examine the tactics, improve the substitutions, find a way to get the best out of players such as Kasper Høgh, and restore some urgency to our attacking football.

Because yesterday, watching from the stands at Celtic Park, I did not see a team that consistently played with the authority expected of Celtic. I saw a team that made a winnable match unnecessarily difficult and left two valuable points behind.

Come on, Celtic. Wake up, smell the coffee and start playing like Celtic again.

Paradise deserves better than a sluggish game of football and another night of frustration.

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