Mika Baur urges his Celtic team-mates they need to take the fight to derby rivals Rangers in crucial league encounter

It’s not so much the defeats in season-defining games which have left Celtic supporters bewildered. It’s been the abject nature of them.

To see a side wilt after establishing a four-goal advantage away to LASK was certainly troubling, but that dark night in Austria did come after a bright start to the domestic season.

We can now see, though, that it was no anomaly. After being posted missing at Ibrox on Sunday, Martin O’Neill’s side failed to answer every question that was asked of them as they meekly surrendered to Ferencvaros.

Three defeats in high-profile matches in 24 days. Eleven goals conceded in the process. Players going into their shells ahead of the visit of Rangers. Alarm bells ringing all over the place.

While the quality throughout the squad is clearly miles short of the requisite level, that doesn’t excuse those players who have been selected from showing no resilience when adversity comes along.

Mika Baur may be new to the scene in Glasgow, but he needs no one to tell him that unless O’Neill’s players belatedly show some character tomorrow afternoon, a bad situation may get a great deal worse.

‘I don’t think it’s up to me to tell you what each player should do better,’ said the midfielder. ‘But as a team, we need to stick together, get the energy level really high on Sunday. To win the fights and the duels, that’s the most important thing.

‘We will not win it through beautiful football and nice plays. Maybe we will score through it, but we will win the game on Sunday with mentality and energy. That’s what everybody should bring into the match on.’

If there is such a thing as an acceptable way to lose a match, then none of those losses will ever be held up as shining examples.

After the reverse at Ibrox, skipper Callum McGregor said it felt like the team was defending with six players at times. Indictments on a footballer’s willingness to do the very basics don’t get more damning than that.

If more hard yards were run and more dirty work was got through against the Hungarians, then it was barely noticeable.

Unless there’s a radical change in approach, another torrid afternoon awaits for Celtic supporters.

‘Sure, you want to win. That’s the first thing,’ added Baur. ‘And in a couple of months no one asks how we won.

Baur this week celebrated his first call-up to the German national team led by Jurgen Klopp

‘For sure you want to play attractive football, you want to do good with the ball and against the ball. The tactics are really important. But, as we all saw last Sunday, it was not about that. It was about the fights, to tackle back sometimes, to run back. It was about that and we should bring it up on Sunday.

‘We should react, for sure. I think now we can say we have lost two or three of the big matches this season.’

Nothing summed up the feebleness of this Celtic side quite like the minutes immediately before and after half-time on Thursday. Having equalised through Baur on 44 minutes, a string of basic errors ensured the Hungarians re-established their lead in injury time.

Hopes for atonement lasted all of two minutes after the interval. A cheap turnover, a brilliant cross-field pass and a stunning strike by Daniel Arzani. Game over.

‘In the first half, it was just two easy goals,’ Baur recalled. ‘We started well in the match, the first minutes we were really pushing forward. Then I don’t know why we stopped. We played a lot of times at the back.

‘Sometimes you need that and it makes sense. But I think we could go forward much more.

‘Then we lost the important duels, second balls. We made again some really stupid mistakes. Then you lose the game and we deserved it.’

Baur watches as his effort draws Celtic level against Ferencvaros, but parity didn’t last long

Quite why O’Neill’s players stopped taking the risks on the ball which were initially being rewarded was a complete mystery. But it was that growing fear to express themselves in the final third which allowed Ferencvaros to grow into the game and eventually apply the pressure to which O’Neill’s side showed no resistance.

There will be 60,000 Celtic fans present tomorrow. Depending on your mindset, that can be a burden or an advantage.

‘So, we should use that,’ insisted Baur. ‘We need everyone. The players will give 100 per cent on the field and we need everybody else to get that energy back and win on Sunday.’

It’s been a strange week for the 22-year-old. Sandwiched in between the losses to Rangers and Ferencvaros came news that he’d earned his first call-up for the German national squad under Jurgen Klopp.

‘It’s an unbelievable feeling,’ said Baur. ‘It’s a big honour and I’m really proud of it. But I really don’t want to talk about something individual at the moment.

‘It’s all about Sunday. It’s really important for us, for Celtic.

‘It’s not about me or my call up, it’s about Sunday for sure.’