Not good enough as Brendan Rodgers handed reality check in Ayrshire

Celtic have exited the League Cup after a defeat to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. The Scottish Champions won the League Cup after beating Rangers in the Final last season but there will be a new winners of the competition after Brendan Rodgers’ side exited the tournament down in Ayrshire.

Despite arriving in Ayrshire with injuries to Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate, Stephen Welsh, Oh and Alistair Johnston, Rodgers made just two changes from the side that started at Pittodrie last weekend with Gustaf Lagerbielke partnering Maik Nawrocki and Odin Thiago Holm making his first start at the expense of David Turnbull.

Celtic started strongly and in the first fifteen minutes there were promising signs with a couple of chances being created. This quickly changed and Derek McInnes’ resilient Killie dug in and refused to give much away. The lack of creativity from Celtic was alarming. There was a pedestrian nature to Celtic’s play, one pass too many and not attempting to work the goalkeeper.

Kilmarnock were worthy winners. They took their only real chance of the game and then defended their lead well. For Celtic, there will be a period of reflection. The manager has said that there is a lot of work to be done and there is likely more arrivals required to get the team up to the necessary level to compete in Europe and dominate the league.

The manager will learn a lot from this defeat about his players and their reaction. The manager’s interview was honest and fair but it will tell him what he needs moving forward.

Rodgers may feel that he should have had a penalty in injury time when Sead Haksabanovic was brought down. The replays confirmed that he had been clipped but rather than ask Alan Muir to review the incident, Don Robertson issued the instruction to play on.

There is clearly work to be done to this Celtic team. Rodgers was explicit with that. However, he will be bitterly disappointed with his team’s output. There are still almost two weeks remaining in the transfer window and the team requires more arrivals in order to deliver the necessary success for the club. Rodgers mentioned quality and in order to compete in Europe, Celtic need that quality.