Brendan Rodgers took the opportunity in the aftermath of his team’s convincing 3-0 victory over Livingston away from today to criticise the media narrative around Celtic. The Irishman has come in for some criticism for his side’s start to the season, despite being five points clear of his nearest challenger and SEVEN ahead of his Glasgow rivals at present.
It has been a strange start to this season’s Scottish Premiership campaign as the Bhoys have been ravaged with injuries and this has led, in turn, to a makeshift defence being in place for the first few games so far. Liam Scales and Gustaf Lagerbielke have performed admirably since they have stepped into the role at central defence but with the greatest of respect, they would not be first-choice picks on a weekly basis.
Scales looked to be on his way out of the club before a major injury crisis – leaving us without our starting two central defenders and our second choice in Stephen Welsh – swept across our squad. That has led to a considerable amount of disruption in Rodgers’ second spell as Celtic boss and has ensured we’ve endured a mixed start to the new season.
Having said all that, we’ve now visited Pittodrie, Ibrox and now the Toni Macaroni Arena and left with all three points and with a team that is still finding it’s rhythm. Not to mention we went down to nine-men in the UEFA Champions League group stages and still managed to keep a respectable scoreline, as well as winning today with a man less too. So it’s not all as doom and gloom as some would have you believe.
Rodgers fired back at the media narrative surrounding his team in his post-match media interviews this afternoon, following that satisfying 3-0 win with a man down. When asked by BBC Sport Scotland if he was gaining momentum, the Irishman replied with a wry smile: “supposedly we’re struggling”. Rodgers keeps saying we’re nowhere near where he wants us to be as of yet and with the return of crucial players to happen within the coming weeks ahead, we may just make some people eat their words this year.
Paul Gillespie
🗣️ ‘Supposedly we’re struggling…’
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers responds to a question about being unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership with five wins out of six ⤵️#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/L7QmHB2RVU
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) September 23, 2023
