Carter-Vickers is adamant he didn’t foul Nathaniel Atkinson before Stephen Kingsley curled home the resulting free-kick.
Cameron Carter-Vickers admits it’s simply not been good enough from Celtic.
But the Parkhead defender says self-analysis is the only route out of troubled times. And Carter-Vickers insists stars in the squad are willing to take responsibility and help skipper Callum McGregor lead them back up to the demanded levels. Boss Brendan Rodgers savagad the lack of desire and mentality during the nightmare weekend display against Hearts which led to first home league loss in 52 games.
McGregor was also searingly honest and says the side have been guilty of disrespecting the hard parts of the game as they flopped for the second-successive Premiership game. Having lost the previous weekend at Kilmarnock, Celtic have now suffered back-to-back top-flight reverses for the first time in a decade and Carter-Vickers did not attempt to dress up the dismal performance.
He insists improvement will only come by looking deep inside this week in the search for solutions as he explained: “We have to analyse what went wrong, see where we can improve as a team and as individuals. If we do that, performances will get better.
“We weren’t good enough. We conceded two sloppy goals, which is something we need to look at in training and try to improve on. We probably should have created more and also finished the chances we did have to try to get ourselves back in the game. Ultimately, it wasn’t good enough.
“For large parts of the second half, we did have them in their half, around their box. But again there were sloppy moments throughout the half which killed our momentum. When we did get in and around the box, we weren’t good enough in the final third to create clear openings to score goals. Again, that’s something we need to look at and try to improve on.”
Asked to try to pinpoint a reason for the abject display, he continued: “I’m not sure. It’s tough to say right now. Emotions are obviously high when you lose a game. But as a group, we’ve got to get our heads down now, work hard on the training pitch and try to start turning out better performances.
“Win, lose or draw we always know the next game is the most important one and as a group that’s what we try to focus on. Every game of football is different. You come up against different styles. Champions League games are just very different games compared to the league games.
“Even in the win against Hibs, they pressed up and tried to keep the ball a bit more than what we normally face in the league. Maybe it’s the case that we struggle against certain styles of team and, again, that’s something we need to look at and try to improve on. With better performances come wins.”
Celtic fans vented their fury during the second period and it felt like a tipping-point day for some supporters deeply unhappy at recent work of the club on the recruitment side and the subsequent failure to press home a position of power. Rodgers’ post-match commentary suggested he wasn’t prepared to put up with such poor performances any longer, even if he wasn’t surprised to see it.
But, when it was put to Carter-Vickers it was a day where a line had to be drawn in the sand and used as a marker point for transformation in form, he was cautious about using loose statements at such a serious time and said: “I don’t really like using phrases like that. It’s easy to throw things out like that, but the real work comes in analysing and seeing where we can improve.”
Of course, Celtic’s cause was not helped at the weekend when, with the scoreline 1-0 to the visitors, referee Kevin Clancy angered the hosts by awarding a free-kick against Carter-Vickers for a challenge on Nat Atkinson. Hearts ace Stephen Kingsley deepened the wound by curling the award past Joe Hart for a killer second away goal and the defender said: “I didn’t think it was a free-kick.
“I planted my foot on the floor and he (Atkinson) was already slipping. He kind of skipped into my leg which was planted and the referee gave a free-kick.”
However, Carter-Vickers wasn’t using it as an excuse and continued: “Over the 90 minutes, we probably didn’t do enough to deserve to win the game. We’ve got to look at it and try to improve.”