A disappointed Brendan Rodgers spoke to Celtic TV after this evening’s 3-1 defeat to Salzburg in the Europa League. The Celtic manager bemoaned his side’s poor ball retention that prevented Celtic causing the hosts more problems that should perhaps have been the case.
Rodgers also expressed his disappointment at the sending off of James Forrest with the Celtic manager assessment being that it was a harsh decision by the referee.
And on a frustrating night all round the manager revealed that Scott Brown will miss this Sunday’s vital Premiership match away to St Johnstone as he struggles with a hamstring problem.
“The best team won. I thought first half we started well and by the end of the half we’d frustrated Salzburg,” Brendan said.
“First half I was reasonably pleased with. Second half, though, we gave away disappointing goals. That was frustrating. From that they gained in confidence. My feeling was we didn’t retain the ball well enough.
“When it gets to 3-1 with 10 men it’s a difficult game for us. We gave them problems in first half, didn’t concede too much from a defensive perspective.
“By the end it was very disappointing. Our plan in terms of being compact and being able to threaten on attack, it worked well for us and we had a great start. Odsonne showed his pace, strength and a finish.
“First half we limited them with chances. But at this level you need to be better with ball, otherwise you don’t get a rest in the game. That hurt us.
“But the guys gave everything, even with 10 men. They went down fighting and we were beaten by the better team.”
Another player who will miss the next few matches is Aberdeen’s Scott McKenna who this afternoon lost his appeal and will now miss his sides next two League games.
McKenna was issued with a notice of complaint yesterday after the Compliance Officer deemed that his two footed lunge on Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard at the weekend was serious foul play.
Aberdeen appealed but this was unsuccessful.
Referee Bobby Madden told the young French striker that McKenna had got the ball.
Meanwhile Hearts owner Ann Budge has dismissed Celtic’s complaint to the League Cup semi-final moving to Murrayfield as “nonsense” and “fatuous”….