“It’s pretty obvious, you have to keep progressing and you have to keep getting stronger.
“What we’ve done in the two years has made other clubs and other teams become stronger.
“You only have to look at Liverpool who have got to the Champions League final then went and invested the money they have to become stronger.
“It’s not rocket science.
“You have to always guard against becoming complacent and the way you do that is by adding to the squad.
“But that’s for another day.
“There’s a disappointment tonight from the players that were here that we let that slip through our hands.”
These were Brendan Rodgers’ words last night after Celtic’s chickens came home to roost in Athens.
Celtic lost 12 goals to PSG last year in the Champions League and we were told that they were the best team ever to have played us. They were conspicuous by their absence in the Champions League Final were they not?
Losing 12 goals to them and 7 the year before to a Barcelona team that was weaker than the one Neil Lennon’s side defeated in 2012, surely to god must have set some alarm bells ringing that our defence just isn’t fit for purpose.
And we were left crying in our beer because Boyata wouldn’t play! Yesterday Chris Sutton described Boyata as a disgrace and also as a bomb-scare. Who can really argue with that?
His partner, Jozo Simunovic looks like he’d like to be somewhere else and frankly after the stunt he pulled last summer he should have been long gone.
Someone today should be sitting explaining themselves regarding the scouting of the January defensive buys Jack Hendry and Marvin Compper – who has so far played for 81 minutes against Morton in the Scottish Cup.
Celtic’s record with Hendry in the side is awful.
At right back Lustig looked done in Ronny Delia’s last season. He was frankly awful during that campaign. He picked up under Brendan, as many players did, but after playing most of last season and then going to the World Cup, he is running on empty.
He was involved in all three goals conceded to an average AEK Athens side who could not believe their luck.
Craig Gordon did not have a save to make last night. He was blameless at the two goals conceded. Only the goalie and Kieran Tierney – who you will recall there was an attempt to sell to Everton at the start of this season for £25million – are competent and capable of playing for Celtic.
So if we are trying to combat complacency let’s sign a decent right back and two central defenders who can defend and who want to play for us.
And sell Boyata today.
