Heart of Midlothian, Motherwell, Dundee United, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, and Livingston have all scored more William Hill Premiership goals than Celtic this season.
Brendan Rodgers' side looks disjointed. Attacking fluidity is absent, and their mojo feels a while away from being truly discovered.
Although he operates at the opposite end of the pitch, Cameron Carter-Vickers is sure everything will fall into place, eventually. "You always want to score goals," says the central defender. "It is something we are working on in training to try and improve.
"At the moment, we have to find a way to win games without scoring two or three, maybe that is winning 1-0, being tight at the back, keeping clean sheets and scoring the odd goal here and there to win games.
"That might be what we have to do for the next couple of weeks. I am confident that at some point, it will click. When it does, hopefully we will be in a better position.
"Any time new players come in, it takes a while, just for people to learn each other’s games. Sometimes that half a second makes a big difference because if I know exactly what you are going to do, I can time my movement perfectly. If I don’t, then it might be a half a second off, which can be the difference between scoring and not scoring."
Read more:
- The real reason Colby Donovan came off at halftime for Celtic vs Braga
- Why UEFA won't publish explanation for Celtic's disallowed goal
As much as many of their performances have been substandard in recent months, Thursday night's defeat to Braga was Celtic's first in 90 minutes since the beginning of April. Goals from Ricardo Horta and Gabri Martinez ensured the Portuguese outfit left Parkhead with all three points.
For Horta's long-range opener, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel could undoubtedly have done better. "I am not a goalkeeper," continued Carter-Vickers. "I think in the time he [Schmeichel] has been here, he has saved those types of shots, but again, that is part and parcel of football.
"As a team, we have to be able to deal with those and try to win the game."
Things could've panned out entirely differently on Thursday had Kelechi Iheanacho's strike at the beginning of the second half stood. The Nigerian frontman pounced upon some slack Braga defending to race through and accurately place the ball into the bottom right corner of Lukas Hornicek's goal.
Iheanacho appeared to have made it one apiece until his strike was ruled out because the ball was adjudged to have struck his hand when he initially won it back.
Upon inspection, no such touch was evident. Seeing it back, I cannot see a handball," admitted Carter-Vickers. "The big moment in the game went against us, which is never helpful when you are playing at this level.
"That goal gets given, and it is 1-1. At 1-1 with 25 minutes left, we will probably go on and win the game. But it gets disallowed, and we end up losing 2-0. You need luck at this level, and we did not get any tonight. That is the reality of the situation.
"I was miles away from it, and as a player, you have to have faith in VAR. At the time, I just thought it must have hit his hand, that is why it has been disallowed."
Rodgers made a drastic tactical change at the break against Braga as Celtic switched to a 3-4-3 for the second half, having started the match in a 4-3-3. "We were just trying to get a bit more pressure on them," said Carter-Vickers of the system switch. "We felt in the second half of the first half they had got a bit of control, and obviously we did not want that.
"I think the change to a three probably worked because in the second half, we limited the time they had on the ball and became more dominant ourselves.
"I haven’t really played much in a three, but it is football, so you get on with it. I wouldn’t mind playing more of that in the future. It will be up to the manager, he will pick and choose when he thinks that us playing in that formation will work in the game.
"We have worked on being a proper back three in and out of possession, but not too much."
Young Colby Donovan was sacrificed at the break for the tactical change as Marcelo Saracchi came on in his place. The teenage right-back seized his opporunity in the Celtic side when Alistair Johnston and Anthony Ralston were both out injured, completing three consecutive matches before being handed a well-earned rest versus Hibernian last weekend.
Despite Ralston returning to fitness in time for Braga, Donovan got the nod, only to be brought off at the halfway mark. "I don’t think that [halftime withdrawal] is down to how he played, it was more just the change of shape," claimed Carter-Vickers.
"That will only make him stronger going forward. He is still only 19, so he has loads of developing to do. I think you can see in games that he has already started to improve.
"If he continues the way he is going, he will be a very good player. He has just kind of taken things in his stride. If you know him and his personality, that is who he is. To be fair, he has been working hard with us in training for a while now, so he deserves this opportunity."
Mustering just one point from two Europa League outings this season is a far cry from almost knocking Bayern Munich out of the Champions League eight months ago.
A culmination of issues has led to Celtic's alarming drop-off. The players can only get on with things. "You always want to be playing Champions League, but after you fail to qualify, then as a footballer, you have to quickly adjust and just push on," said Carter-Vickers. "The reality of football is that things change quickly. As a player, you learn that and you know that, so focus on what is in front of you."
Read more:
- Ex-ref delivers verdict on Celtic disallowed goal as key unseen factor explained
- How can Brendan Rodgers save Celtic's dysfunctional family unit?
Austrian champions Sturm Graz are next up on Celtic's Europa League agenda before they face Midtjylland, Feyenoord, Roma, Bologna, and Utrecht.
If they are to progress to the knockout stages, Rodgers' men must start getting positive results. "I think all the games we have left will be tight games, but we are confident we can pick up the points we need," said the American.
"It might sound a bit crazy after losing 2-0, but I don’t think the performance was terrible tonight [Thursday]. The result was but performance-wise I think there is a lot we can build on.
"There are still six games left in our schedule, and if we can get the results we want, we will be in a good position. At the end of this European campaign, then we can assess where we are compared to last season, but of course, we want to be winning our home games."
The focus for Celtic tomorrow turns back to the domestic scene as they face a Motherwell side that is unbeaten in all competitions this campaign.
Although five of their league matches have ended in draws, Jens Berthel Askou's team is playing an attractive brand of football that has secured back-to-back wins and clean sheets over Aberdeen in the past fortnight. "I have not seen much of them, but I have heard they are playing a bit more football now, so hopefully that will make for a good game," said Carter-Vickers. "It is still early in the league, but every league game you play, you want to get maximum points from. That is definitely the case this weekend."
Hearts currently lead the way in the William Hill Premiership, having made a storming start to 2025/26. "Last season, you had Aberdeen up there for the first part of the season," Carter-Vickers went on. "It is just another challenge for us that we look forward to."
