It may now be fair to say that the only ones who have anxiety about taking to the field at Celtic Park are those wearing green and white.

The Celtic players had to face the wrath of their raging punters once again on their home patch on Saturday, as a confident Kilmarnock came to Glasgow, went after the champions, and eventually got their just reward.

The timing of David Watson’s stoppage time leveller that cancelled out Kyogo Furuhashi’s opener for the hosts might suggest that this was something of a smash and grab from Killie, but the only shock here was that Celtic hadn’t conceded prior to the youngster’s header beating Joe Hart.

There was tension and anxiety both in the stands and on the pitch from those of a Celtic persuasion long before that, with the grumbles of discontent that had been building as the home side retreated into their shells as the second half wore on bursting into full-throated mutiny as Watson wheeled away in celebration.

READ MORE: Celtic 1 Kilmarnock 1: Late Watson header sees Celtic spill points at home yet again

The Celtic board and chairman Peter Lawwell were the main targets of the supporters’ ire, predictably. And anger at the lack of quality on display in the home ranks was understandable.

The Celtic defence is missing Cameron Carter-Vickers, of course, but even so, it was far too easy for Killie to create chances, with set-plays giving Celtic particular problems. And the lack of any sort of impact whatsoever from the four wingers who were on show throughout the afternoon was alarming.

And for all the talk from Brendan Rodgers of the need for speed in Celtic’s build-up play, particularly around the final third, they are mainly pedestrian and predictable.

It is a recipe for disaster. Make no mistake, their title defence is in real peril. The players themselves know it, with Greg Taylor acknowledging that there was a need for an impromptu crisis summit at the weekend to address their shortcomings, and to deliver a few home truths.

“We had a chat after the game in the changing room,” Taylor said.

“It’s important to realise there are still 12 league games to go. But we obviously need to improve, that’s clear, in terms of our level of performance.

“We want to hit the levels we know we can hit. But we all talked about that - we’re a team, so it was coaches, manager and all the players.

“We’re all united as one and we all want to put on a better showing for the fans, that’s clear.

“Dropping points is disappointing and I feel for the supporters as they expect so much more from us and rightly so.

“We have to have perspective, it’s only February at the moment so there is still a long way to go.

“But we do need to find a level of performance.”

And quickly. Celtic have now spilled points on home soil on four occasions this season, with further draws against St Johnstone and Motherwell as well as a defeat to Hearts seriously blotting their copybook.

“It’s disappointing,” Taylor said.

“It shouldn’t be us. We’ve got such a strong home record normally, so to drop any points here - never mind in four games - is disappointing.

“I wouldn’t say it’s because of anxiety from the stands, I think players should be able to deal with that.

“There’s enough experience out there that we should be able to take full control in these games, especially once you get the goal.

READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers in plea for patience from Celtic fans

“It can be difficult when you’re up against a low block and you’re tiring a team out, but when there’s a team that has played against you man for man for an hour or 65 minutes, we should be coming into our own in the last 20, 25 minutes.

“That’s the time when we should really be putting these teams to bed, so that’s probably the most disappointing thing.

“It’s everyone as a collective, having to understand that this club demands success, and it demands a way of playing.

“And when you don’t hit those levels then they supporters are rightly disappointed.”

And they haven’t been shy in expressing that disappointment. But Taylor knows that the Celtic players have to find a way to shut out the noise around the club, and the pressure that is being placed upon them from the other side of Glasgow at the moment, if they are to have any hope of reasserting the position of dominance in the Scottish game that they have long enjoyed.

“It is really important that you stay solely focused on what we can do, because as soon as you lose focus on that then you’re chasing things, you’re hazy,” he said.

“We’ll do a debrief on Monday, we need to see where we went wrong in this game and where we can improve, and see if we can take that into the final part of the season.”