Cameron Carter-Vickers opens up on Celtic’s tactical uncertainty after three consecutive defeats | OneFootball

Cameron Carter-Vickers has admitted Celtic lacked consistency and clarity during a bruising week which brought three consecutive defeats for Martin O’Neill’s side.

Cameron Carter-Vickers of Celtic vies with Ryan Naderi of Rangers during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and the Rangers at Celtic Park on September 20, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The American defender started all three losses as Celtic’s positive early-season momentum came to a grinding halt in the space of seven days.

Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Rangers at Parkhead followed losses against the Ibrox side in the Premier Sports Cup and Ferencvaros in the Europa League.

The latest derby result also cut Celtic’s advantage at the top of the Premiership to two points, completing a six-point swing after what had been a strong start to the league campaign.

Reflecting on the three defeats, Carter-Vickers believes each exposed different problems for O’Neill’s side.

Asked about the run, Carter-Vickers explained via TCW: “I think they’ve been different, if I’m being honest.

“I think last Sunday we lost too many duels, and you can never win a football match if you lose that amount of duels.

“Midweek, I think you’re playing a level up in opposition and I think there’s parts of the game that were better, but they punish us with the chances they had.

“And then on Sunday, we won more duels than we did last Sunday, I believe.

“But again, probably wasn’t consistent enough in the way we wanted to play and how we wanted to take to attack the game throughout the 90 minutes. There’s probably not much in the game, but they took a chance, and we didn’t.”

Celtic struggled to create against Rangers and registered just one effort on target, with Carter-Vickers admitting there remains plenty to improve.

On Sunday’s game, he continued: “It’s hard to put your finger on one thing.

“I think we weren’t great over the 90 minutes. I don’t think there was much in the game in terms of I don’t think they’re much better than us, but obviously, they scored, we didn’t.

“But obviously a lot to improve on from our point of view.”

Ryan Naderi’s first-half goal ultimately separated the sides, and Carter-Vickers also discussed the importance of players having clarity over their responsibilities during matches.

On Naderi’s goal, he said: “Sometimes, for example, if I’m on a football pitch and I may be questioning, do I do something, do I not?

“In that second, my man could run five yards off me, and then all of a sudden everyone looking at the game thinks, ‘I haven’t bothered to run back’.

“But it’s not necessarily that I don’t want to; it’s that I’ve froze for a second, half a second and in football, sometimes that’s too late.

“So that’s where the clarity is so key, because all of a sudden, when everyone is on the same page and you’ve been doing it for a while, everyone looks like they can run all day. And that’s just a reality of football.

“Obviously, in the second phase of a corner, you want everyone to stay marking with the men that they obviously marked for the original corner, but it’s probably slightly different to what I’m talking about.

“It’s early on in the season; we still have 31 games left in the league. So there’s still a lot of time to improve, to start picking up performances and results.

“It’s been a tough week. But there’s been tough times since I’ve been here, and we always somehow find a way to come out the other end of them.”

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