Cameron Carter-Vickers in uncharted Celtic territory as USA star admits recent plight has caught him off-guard

The USA defender admits the recent slump has taken him by surprise

Cameron Carter-Vickers went into 2025 having been part of just three league defeats for Celtic in THREE seasons.

It’s no wonder the big centre back seems a little perplexed at losing another four of them in a few weeks.

The USA defender admitted he’s in uncharted territory with the Hoops suffering dip in form despite being on the verge of clinching Four-in-a-Row.

And it’s not a sensation he wants to get used to as Celts look to get three points against Kilmarnock on Saturday and then see if the title will be gift-wrapped by Rangers 24 hours later at Aberdeen.

Carter-Vickers said: “Yeah, of course. And that’s a good thing. You don’t want to be used to losing.

“Before I came here, I played five seasons in the Championship down in England and that league is a lot more win, win, lose, lose.

“As a player, I’m used to not necessarily winning all the time and I understand that it’s actually very hard to win all the time, no matter who you’re playing. It’s definitely something we’ve done well over the last few years and something we want to continue to do.”

Boss Brendan Rodgers read the riot act after defeat to St Johnstone last weekend and it’s been message received in the Celtic dressing room.

Carter-Vickers said: “There were times last season where we didn’t perform the way he wanted us to. I was aware that he had that side to him. So, it wasn’t a surprise.

“You look at the game last weekend. Obviously, it didn’t start ideal conceding but, after that point, I thought we created more than enough chances to win that game.

“I think, nine times out of 10, if you create those chances, you win. So, result-wise, it’s not a positive one but, performance-wise, it wasn’t terrible. And that’s football. That’s why we love the sport.

“That’s why a team can be on top for 80 minutes and still lose a game. And that’s why people watch it, because it’s unpredictable.

“I completely understand the emotion of losing a game when the final whistle goes. I’m annoyed, we’re all annoyed.

“But at some point you have to kind of have a bigger perspective of the whole scenario and where you’re at in the season. It’s a fairly positive position. I think I’ve got a fairly good perspective of things but I completely understand the emotion that people have in this sport.

“After a negative result, you’re then feeling negative about things until there’s a positive result. I understand that. But at the beginning of the season, our goals are to win all the competitions domestically and have a good showing in Europe.

“We’ve got one cup in the bag so far, in a good position to get two more trophies domestically. Our Champions League campaign was a decent one and we showed we could compete at that level. Now you want to finish it in style.”

The McDiarmid Park loss was a warning – especially with Saints their opponents in the Scottish Cup semi-final next week.

Carter-Vickers said: “Of course. In a semi or in any cup game, anything can happen. But we’ve played enough of them now that, whether we had that reset or not, we’d have been ready to compete.”

Carter-Vickers has had his hands full in recent weeks and it’s not been easy with a revolving door next to him, with Auston Trusty, Liam Scales and Maik Nawrocki all slotting in at times.

But he said: “The way we train, I’m outside every day training with all these guys, so whoever plays on the weekend or on the matchday, we are all used to playing with each other.

“Any defensive partnership definitely helps when you have a bit of consistency.

“But every day I’m working with these guys, so I know these players and they know me.”