Greg Taylor makes ‘hazy’ admission as Rangers control slips are obscuring Celtic’s title vision

Greg Taylor denies Rangers are obscuring Celtic’s title vision but makes ‘hazy’ admission as control slips Despite the squad losing four of their first five home games of the season, Taylor maintains that the players are not being affected by crowd fear.

Greg Taylor acknowledges that Celtic are losing their composure.

The Parkhead defender also maintains that his team cannot afford to lose concentration or their chances of winning the crown will dim. Kilmarnock held Taylor and his teammates to a 1-1 stalemate on their own field, causing them to endure yet another excruciatingly unpleasant afternoon. Kyogo Furuhashi, the squad’s best scorer, gave Brendan Rodgers’ team a halftime advantage that put them comfortably ahead.

As the second period got underway, Celtic had the opportunity to accelerate and overwhelm their Ayrshire rivals in the contest. Instead, Derek McInnes’ team came together and earned a stoppage-time equalizer, causing the struggling hosts to lose control and suffer yet another major title setback. The aggravation of two more lost points in the battle for the flag caused the home stands to erupt in rage over that.

With a 1-0 lead on their own patch, Taylor expected his team to advance from that position of strength and further punish tiring rivals. But Celtic failed to make Killie wilt, leaving the door open for them to snatch their point and plunge Parkhead into angst.

Taylor said: “I thought in the first-half we were pretty dominant. We were just waiting on that opportunity coming and Kyogo took it. We had good control of the game, but in the latter stages, we lost that control. That’s disappointing and it’s about us trying to work out why that is.

“There’s enough experience out there that we should be able to take full control in these games, especially once you get the goal. It can be difficult when you’re up against a low block and you’re tiring a team out, but when there’s a team that has played against you man-for-man for an hour or 65 minutes, we should be coming into our own in the last 20, 25 minutes. That’s the time when we should really be putting these teams to bed, so that’s probably the most disappointing thing.”

Taylor’s honest admission was a reflection on the positivity which has surrounded his former club as they set-up for the contest. Killie’s refusal to just camp in their own territory should have given Celtic more room in advanced areas to exploit and explore.

That’s a situation Rodgers’ team are expected to thrive upon and Taylor admitted: “Yeah exactly. They [Killie] came here to try and compete and ruffle you up and be strong in the tackle, etc.

“I think, certainly for an hour or so, we had the majority of the ball, all the chances, we didn’t give them a lot. But as I touched on, in the last 20 or 25 minutes it’s important that, when a team has gone man-for-man, they should be tiring and we should take full control of the ball. We didn’t do that, and that is frustrating.”

Killie boss Derek McInnes’ bold approach was built upon two wins over the champions already this term at Rugby Park. But the fact that Celtic have started to become fallible on their own patch may well have further increased Killie’s belief.

Celtic had dropped points in three previous home Premiership games with a loss to Hearts and draws with St Johnstone and Motherwell. Killie became the fourth team to take something and Taylor admitted: “It’s disappointing. It shouldn’t be us.

“We’ve got such a strong home record normally, so to drop any points here, never mind in four games, is disappointing. I wouldn’t say it’s because of anxiety from the stands, I think players should be able to deal with that.”

Celtic’s latest slip offered another opening for Rangers in the title race ahead. But Taylor insists his team can’t concern themselves with the challengers from across the city and said: “No, but it is really important that you stay solely focused on what we can do because as soon as you lose focus on that then you’re chasing things, you’re hazy.”

The late setback against Killie came with Taylor already off the park. The Scotland defender made his return from a month on the injured list to start the contest and had played well to help his team into the lead.

“Being injured is never fun, so it was encouraging to be back out there,” Taylor remarked. After an hour, the full-back said, “The pitch was quite heavy.” We didn’t want to take any chances because it was four weeks away and I was starting to feel my calves. However, I’m feeling good.

Feeling fine was a reference to his level of fitness; it was not, of course, a perfect expression of how he felt about how the game turned out. At this point in their title defence, Celtic are under increasing strain and the margin for mistake might get very narrow.

If Rodgers’ team is to make sure they lift the Premiership trophy once more, they must soon regain their form.

The defender responded, “Who knows?” when asked if Taylor’s team needed to be flawless from this point on until the conclusion, even if they might not be able to afford any more mistakes.

“We’ll see. There are still 12 league games to go, and maybe three cup games. All we have to do is concentrate on improving ourselves and returning to our desired states.