John Kennedy will know that the defeat at Ibrox yesterday ended an era of dominance for the club and closed the door on his own chances of being appointed Celtic manager on a permanent basis. And like Neil Lennon he can have no-one to blame but himself and his players.
Kennedy’s big error was to start with Diego Laxalt – he recognised that himself at the interval and brought on Greg Taylor, who had played well against Livingston the previous week but nevertheless found himself dropping to the bench when the starting eleven was announced.
Laxalt had a shocker and the other loan fool-back on the other side of the park wasn’t much better, the two combining for the second goal for theRangers. Yesterday Morelos had a shot saved by the unimpressive Scott Bain but other than yesterday’s opener from Davis that’s about all theRangers could muster in two games this year against Celtic at Ibrox. Two shots on goal, one saved, three goals scored – Celtic players have outscored their players in the Glasgow Derbies at Ibrox with both McGregor (the first player culpable for the opener) and Kenny both hitting the back of their own nets.
A shambles. For the best Player Ratings going check out what Sandman had to say last night.
READ THIS…Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Celtic Fool-Backs at Charles Green’s Allotment
“I’m disappointed. It’ a competition we wanted to keep a hold of in terms of another trophy,” John Kennedy said afterwards, as reported by Scottish Sun. “That’s what Celtic is all about – trying to win silverware. We have been very dominant in recent years and when we don’t win it hurts.
It hurts alright, although you get the impression that maybe not as much for a significant number of players in that dressing room. How they can look Kennedy and the captain Scott Brown in the eye is beyond me.
“We have to take what we can out of the season, it’s not been a very successful one. But sometimes that can make you stronger. Deal with that hurt, deal with the setbacks, make sure you address that properly and move forward,” Kennedy rationalised, probably not even convincing himself. No-one else in the dressing room really caring anyway.
Kennedy blamed the terrible first half performance for the Scottish Cup defeat and also cleared up any misunderstanding regarding the penalty miss from Odsonne Edouard. Yesterday we reported that Kennedy had his side practising taking spot kicks in training yet even substitute Leigh Griffiths could sense that the French striker was far from assured as he prepared to miss the penalty – the first one incidentally conceded all season.
A word on Bobby Madden – he awarded the stonewall penalty – fair enough but theRangers player who was already on a yellow card, was a yard from their goal when we prevented a goalscoring opportunity. Compare and contrast where Nir Bitton was positioned way out on the wing when he pulled back Morelos 35 yards from goal back on 2 January.
Maybe Madden only gave the spot-kick because he know like you, me, Leigh Griffiths and everyone else watching on Premier Sport, Celtic TV or on a stream that we’d miss it anyway
“Odsonne is our penalty taker,” Kennedy confirmed. “It is something we always address before the game so there is no mix-up. He has scored many a good penalty for us, but unfortunately it wasn’t the case.
“We had a lot of shots, probably five good opportunities you want to take. When we had big chances we weren’t clinical and when you don’t get that goal it becomes comfortable for (the)Rangers at the end.
“You need quality but in front of goal, I don’t think there was enough belief. If the ball falls to you, make the first-time finish or whatever it may be. If we take those chances, you ask the question and gain momentum in the match.
“But when it stays 2-0, you know you have a mountain to climb. We have been there before in terms of being relentless in front of goal and putting teams to bed. But we have gone through a difficult patch this season and for me, a large part of that is confidence.
“We are bitterly disappointed, especially with how we approached the first half. The second half was better but this game was all about a result – nothing else. You can’t give cheap goals away and you need to be decisive at the top end.
“When you come to Ibrox, you might not create a lot of chances so you need to be clinical. That’s where (the)Rangers have been better than us this season. I thought we were in a better place going into the game and had belief back. But then I saw little glimpses in the first half that we lacked it again.
“We have to get over that and show the character to impose ourselves on the game. We were too passive in the first half. We lacked belief and were too soft in our pressing. We allowed (the)Rangers to pass wherever they wanted and on the ball, we were passing for the sake of passing.
“But we came out well in the second half and we were on the front foot, when we are at our best. We created chances to go and pose the question. If you get it back to 2-1, you can do that – but we weren’t decisive enough in those moments.”
🍀 Celtic's John Kennedy rues his team's missed opportunities following Scottish Cup loss to Rangers
🗣 "Big chances we had, we weren't clinical."#ScottishCup #RANCEL pic.twitter.com/qE4d3HvK00
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) April 18, 2021
Bain, christie, edoward and Griffiths should not get another game this season we have to give other people a run, sadly the results dont matter now and Kennedy and strachan should both be fired today.