Brendan Fraudgers!

Maybe..

Or he'll just carry on thinking he's doing a great job by giving horrendous decisions against you..

That's Menga and Campbell he's inexplicably let stay on against us in recent week's. Plus denying us a perfectly good goal to go 2 up and cruise the game..

Hope the * crashes his motor and dies on the way home..

 

Devlin called that TBF.

 

They didn't play a European away game on the Thursday before the final.

 

Celtic TV interview

 

Brendan Rodgers last night warned that players frustrated at not getting regular game time will be direction to last night’s performance at Fir Park.



Celtic scorned a chance to go back to the top of the table after allowing Motherwell a leveller just two minutes from time. Danny Johnson’s equaliser came on the back of a missed penalty and a Filip Benkovic first-half goal which was chopped off.

Despite that, Rodgers maintained that the performance was inadequate from start to finish.


It’s good for a manager to see – players will knock and ask about why they are not playing and I need to see a game like that,” he said.

Rodgers made seven changes from the team who won the Betfred League Cup on Sunday afternoon but the 45-yeaer-old has no regrets about shuffling his squad.

“When you bring in full international players you’d expect it to be ok,” he said. “You can’t go through a season with 11 players. We have players out injured so yeah it was what we had to do.

“The result doesn’t change the fact were comfortable at 1-0 and we have to see it out.

“The last four or five minutes doesn’t change that.”


Results last night mean that Celtic now go into a top-of-the-table clash against Kilmarnock on Saturday afternoon. The Rugby Park side moved to the top of the table following their 2-0 win over Livingston and Rodgers is keen to see his side get last night’s display out of their system.

“Kilmarnock have played a couple more games than us but it’s still really good for them to be up there and it makes the game at the weekend very important for us,” he said.

“We’ll recover and look forward to playing at home as it feels like ages since we played at home.”

Olivier Ntcham was replaced at the break after struggling on the left-hand side of midfield but Rodgers hinted that he was irked at the performance of the French under-21 internationalist.

Leigh Griffiths also mad way midway through the second period, with Rodgers revealed that the striker was suffering from cramp given his recent time on the sidelines.


He just cramped up – it’s his first start in a while and the idea was to get minutes into his legs,” he said.

“Ntcham change was tactical. We needed more – it was as simple as that.”

And while Rodgers was frustrated at the result he was also scathing of the performance as a whole.

“It was a game that we didn’t play well in - in particular the first-half,” he said.

“We scored a good goal and then didn’t take the chance with the penalty and also had a good goal ruled out from Filip Benkovic.

“At that stage I wasn’t so happy with our positioning and level of our game.

“In the second half our positioning was better but we were still too loose.

“Then of course if you don’t take chances you are vulnerable at the end of the game. It’s definitely two points dropped.

“It’s good to look at the levels – Jonny Hayes did great and I think his thrust and pressing was very good given that he hasn’t played for a while.

“He showed moments of quality despite not playing for a while.

“For us and the level we’ve been at it was not so good.

“From our perspective it’s a poor goal to lose. We didn’t win the first ball, the second, the third and he scores from a very narrow angle.

“It was a disappointing goal to concede.

“I don’t think they took it for granted it was down to concentration.


And we also had a good goal disallowed and a chance from a penalty.

“We just made too many mistakes.”

 

A right side of Boyata , Lustig and Forrest replaced in one hit by Jozo, Gamboa and Hayes was lunacy.

 

I agree that it wasn't the best decision, but I can see the thinking behind it. I also thought he brought Griff and Brown back too early. With so many games this month, there was going to have to be changes at some point. Poor officiating probably robbed us of three points, tonight.

 

Not winning the league (I still think we will very comfortably) would be the ultimate failure for BR and the invincible season and double treble wouldn't ease the humiliation

 

That's why we must stop Kilmarnock.

 

Aye I said at the start of the match thread too, originally going for Simunovic but then changing tact and going for Lustig instead of Gamboa. Simunovic could have done with more experience to settle him. Which shows you how unreliable he has become. Boyata was a miss last night..

 

Go above on Sat, win our games in hand and that’s another title challenge vanquished..

 

It would be such a failure that he would be out of a job.

 

Anyone that's genuinely worried about us not winning the league needs a lie down ffs. It will be a cake walk. We have dropped points when we have played a second string team (Hearts, Killie, Motherwell) . If there was a genuine threat we would be prioritising eveyy single league game ahead of Europe and playing our best 11 week in week out. As it stands BR knows we can risk a few results here and there to ensure the top performers are fit for the cups and Europe.

 

BR: “Kilmarnock deserve all the credit they get. It’s been a real consistent run over the last year. Steve’s done a great job.

BR: “Leicester have made the impossible possible. But it’s still very early in the season.”


BR: On referees “Like everyone, referees make mistakes. We had a goal disallowed on Wednesday. It’s easy to criticise but the guys do their very best.


BR: “Tomorrow is our focus. We will get enough rest time before the European game on Thursday.”

BR: “It’s a very competitive league. Up here there are some fantastic managers and great players. It’s a great league to be involved in.”




BR: “There is no place for racial abuse. It can’t be tolerated. We play in great, intense atmospheres but it’s not something we want to see. Scott Sinclair deals admirably with it.

 

In some ways, it could be described as a meeting of minds.

Celtic host table toppers Kilmarnock this afternoon with Brendan Rodgers and Steve Clarke both cut from a similar cloth; both inherited players whom they improved, both like getting their boots muddy on the training ground and both have a similar philosophy when it comes on how to play.

In what has been a time of domestic dominance for Rodgers, Kilmarnock have been one of the few hiccups for the Celtic manager; in the four meetings since Clarke took the helm at Rugby Park, Celtic are yet to walk away with all three points with two draws and two defeats coming out of the last four meeting between the sides.


The consistency enjoyed by the Ayrshire side following Clarke’s arrival is made all the more notable when consideration is given to the fact that if they were judged on their last 38 games over the last calendar year that they would have finished just three points behind Celtic, albeit that the Parkhead side would have played two fewer league matches.

“I think it speaks everything about Steve’s ability, firstly to organise, and to improve and develop players - and then to find the management skills to consistently get the best out of those players,” reflected Rodgers.

“Steve has done great and he’s really galvanised the club and the team. The biggest credit you can give Steve and his team is that it’s not a surprise.

“If you’ve watched them over the last year they’ve been consistently very very good at getting results. Where they are now, okay they have played a couple more games than other teams but they have got the results and they have got the points.

“They are a very very difficult team to play against. They defend very deep. They are tight and we’ll organised and compact. You need to be very patient when you are playing against them and you need to be able to move the ball quickly.


“Steve and I are both what you would call coaching managers. We like to coach. We like to be on the grass - or the Astro - with the players and feel them close and help them develop. That’s our natural habitat.


My mission when I first came in here was to try and inspire the players to be the best they can possibly be.

“And then get the supporters excited in terms of how we play. From that we’ve been able to win seven trophies but we’ve established a culture at this club that has given us a great base to develop what I would call the long game - to sustain our success over a long period of time.

“We’ve got a base in terms of standards and quality and we’ve got football development in place to let people maximise their talent.”

Kilmarnock’s achievements over the last calendar year are perhaps all the more impressive given that their best player last term, Youssouf Mulumbu, moved to Celtic on the final day of the transfer window.

Whether or not they are still there or thereabouts at the end of the season remains to be seen. In recent seasons there have been suggestions of a more competitive league but in fairness to Celtic, whenever questions have been asked they have been more than able to provide the answers.

This afternoon’s game gives Rodgers’ side the opportunity to move to the summit of the table – they have been there just twice this term – but the Celtic manager feels that there has been a competitiveness about the league.

“I’ve really enjoyed it in a different way to other seasons,” said Rodgers. “You want it to be competitive but you can only ever control yourselves. That’s what we try and do but it’s great when there’s competition because that allows you to improve.



If you look across the league, Kilmarnock are up there on merit, Rangers have improved, Aberdeen will always be strong and they have a couple of games in hand. Hearts and Hibs are two big clubs and maybe results have fallen away a bit but they’ve still got good squads with good managers.

“It’s a good league and a great one to be involved in.”

Since Kilmarnock moved to the top of the table on Wednesday night in the aftermath of a comfortable win over Livingston, there has been all sorts of chatter regarding a comparison between what they could achieve and what Leicester achieved in 2016 with their English league title win.

There is an obvious anomaly in there in that Leicester were heavily bankrolled on their way to that Championship party in a way that Kilmarnock absolutely are not.

Still, though, to Rodgers the achievements of Leicester will have offered players encouragement that sometimes what seems far-fetched can be achieved.

“I think that’s what they will think themselves if they can continue with that kind of consistency,” said Rodgers. “I think when there are 10 games to go you look closer at it because then there’s a different pressure and everything else that comes into play which is totally different and new if you have not been in that situation before. But you can’t argue with what Kilmarnock have done over a sustained period, which has been absolutely brilliant.


Leicester showed, at 5000-1, [Killie same odds…just say they are] it can be done. And what Leicester did was make the impossible is possible. If you have got good players and what they have at Kilmarnock is experienced players and a mix of young players in there as well. Some of the boys have good experience and they have worked very well.”

Mikael Lustig is expected to be back in Celtic’ squad for today’s game after sustaining a knock in the Betfred League Cup while Leigh Griffiths should be fit to play too. The striker missed training at Lennoxtown yesterday afternoon with “an issue” but is expected to be in the squad to face Kilmarnock while Scott Brown played 90 minutes against Motherwell midweek with no after effects. Kristoffer Ajer, who underwent surgery last month on a fractured eye socket, is expected to resume training with the first-team squad on Monday morning although it will be some weeks before he is physically fit to play.

 

BR: It was a brilliant team performance.
@KilmarnockFC
have been outstanding, especially defensively. I thought how we played against that was near on perfect. It was very good. I’m so happy with the performance, a very good win for us

BR on
@KilmarnockFC
: "They deserve the hype. They've been absolutely brilliant and deserve a huge amount of credit. This is a team that sat above us and have shown consistency but we are competitors and we want to win every game we can.

BR: "We scored really good goals and our pressing and shape was very good."


BR: on
@ScottBrown8
/
@OlivierNtcham
: "I have compassion for players, especially for ones who have been amazing for me. I don't have sentimentality. The level and fluency of the team was great. Callum and
@ryanchristie2
with
@Tom_Rogic
have been exceptional."


BR: "
@kierantierney1
should be fine and ready for Thursday. He had a slight issue around his groin area and we didn't want to risk it. He wants to play every second of every game but you need to be sensible about it.

 

I don't have sentimentality..

Love that..

 

Aye in other words they where pish on Wednesday night! Got a feeling broony will leave at end of season!