Celtic went seven points clear at the top of the SPL table following their Glasgow derby win just after Christmas but that considerable advantage has now gone. German international Andreas Hinkel doesn't know what's gone wrong but he knows that the team need to regain the form they showed when they went on their twelve match winning run. "Over the last few weeks, maybe things just haven't been going for us." he said." At Motherwell last weekend they scored with their only shot. Against Aberdeen, set-pieces let us down. Sometimes you can't explain why results don't go your way."
"We would rather still have a good lead just now but I don't think you can compare this season to last year's run-in." he added. "We were seven points behind and had to win every game. At the moment, it's a different situation. Only goal difference separates us and we still have to play Rangers in the league. It's still in our hands. Last season, we had to rely on Rangers dropping points. We have to work hard but that's what we're doing. Training has been good. We are not winning but we have to start again and look ahead with confidence."
Many observers of the Scottish game have commented on the diminishing gap between the top two and the so-called 'provincial' teams and the dearth of quality players in the SPL compared to even five or six years ago and it would be difficult to disagree with that assesment. Andreas Hinkel doesn't know much about the league back then but he does know that there are no easy SPL games for Celtic these days. "You can never say we will definitely win." he said. "We have to give everything. In every position, we have to use our quality. It's a difficult league. Every team works hard and causes problems but we want to get back to winning and hopefully we can do that."