Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers criticised his defenders after conceding a sickening equaliser to Kilmarnock at Celtic Park as the club’s grip on their Scottish Premiership crown slipped amid an awful performance that resulted in the team once again being booed off by some – not all – of the supporters still in the ground after the five minutes of added time.
Most had already left by that time with fans heading in the droves after Watson levelled the scoring to secure a point Kilmarnock certainly merited.
Lawwell, presumably senior, was told to get to somewhere sweary, and Brendan Rodgers was also mentioned in unfavourable terms as we headed to the exits after Beaton blew for time.
The prospects of Celtic winning the title with this group, a shadow of Ange Postecoglou’s fine team, is worryingly unlikely although there is some hope in that theRangers aren’t much better.
But the project signings, dear oh dear. A week or so ago James French pointed out the Kyogo wasn’t scoring because the wingers were getting no assists and today they were all either ineffective (Maeda and Yang) or just rotten ( Palma and Kuhn). Last season Kyogo’s assists came from Jota and Hatate.
“The performance level was nowhere near what we’d want. It looked like we’d get away with it. Very disappointing,” Brendan Rodgers told BBC Scotland.
“It’s the nature of how we conceded, it’s not the first time. I’m disappointed for the supporters. It’s not a one-off, it’s happened too many times. The defensive side has been the one area there’s been a drop. We’ve been missing key players in those positions. We have to be more aggressive.
“There’s still a long way to go. Every title is there to fight for, we’re still there to do that. I totally get the reaction of the supporters.”
Here’s a thought before I get off the supporters bus. Play 442 and with no wingers. A dreadful day in Paradise.
🗣️ "You think I like a challenge, I don't think there's any doubt"
Brendan Rodgers reacts to Celtic dropping points at home to Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership title race.#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/UdekF98irR
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) February 17, 2024
🔊 LISTEN: “It looked like we would get away with it but we didn’t… we lacked authority and we looked nervous.”
🍀 Brendan Rodgers says his Celtic team deserve to be criticised but claims there are ‘still so many points to play for’, following the 1-1 draw with Kilmarnock. pic.twitter.com/CE1eTgNDu8
— Clyde 1 Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) February 17, 2024
Rodgers can’t motivate players and i know they shouldn’t need it but no one is bursting a gut for him, the team or us.
Scales ,Welsh ralston kuhn, yang.meada and Palma aren’t good enough
Another abysmal performance. Kyogo’s scoring dropped off as the service so bad. Well, Idah and Oh won’t do any better as, yet again, we have wingers (sic) who couldn’t cross the road. For a team which dominates in every game, the lack of goalmouth excitement is inexcusable.
Now it sounds like Rodgers is abdicating blame, but he can’t. It’s HIS team, he picks it, he decides on tactics – I presume – and he’s shit at it. And another thing, teams are actually bullying us now, it’s time to dig a bit.
The coaching is a real worry. That embarrassing episode where we spent two minutes passing ourselves into trouble in the second half encouraging Killie to come and attack us was a new low. . We spent 7 million on two defenders who can’t get near the first team. Bernabei has non existent positional sense and zero defensive ability or nous
Couldn’t believe I saw McGregor skying a supposedly pass forward, just yet another sign of things that have gone to the dogs.
The huns aren’t great but if we were in their position we would feel confident.
Still got time to turn things around, but I don’t see anyone in that team that gives me a great deal of hope.