Brendan Rodgers forced to rue Celtic words before Rangers clash as manager ‘lost game in dugout’

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Brendan Rodgers has rarely come under fire as Celtic boss in either stint.

The manager has an incredible trophy haul as Hoops boss and Rodgers’ record vs Rangers has also been superb, the most recent two Glasgow derby matches aside, of course.

So it has been a tad jarring over the past few days to see some Celtic fan reaction to the Gers loss and their thoughts on the Irishman’s inability to change things on the pitch when necessary.

His side did not show up on Sunday afternoon as Rangers beat Celtic 3-2 and the bench, when it came to making those tweaks during the action, was maybe too light in terms of experience.

As the Light Blues rushed into a 2-0 lead early doors before half-time, it could be argued that Rodgers had been inexplicably outsmarted by rookie coach Barry Ferguson who might simply have taken the Celtic boss by surprise.

• READ MORE: Andy Halliday ‘holds hands up’ to one thing about Celtic vs Rangers he didn’t see coming

Brendan Rodgers ‘lost vs Rangers in the dugout’ at Celtic

At least that’s the thoughts of former Ibrox and Hearts midfielder Andy Halliday during his punditry duties on Clyde Superscoreboard.

One caller put it to the panel that Rangers have dominated the recent Glasgow derby fixtures. And Halliday responded: “In terms of Rodgers not learning from the previous defeat, I tend to agree.

“Rangers won the game on the pitch and between the two managers I thought it was won in the dugout on the Rangers side as well.”

It was a strange game over the weekend, it must be said, with Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate pulling Celtic back into it before Hamza Igamane stole it at the death.

That came as Celtic looked the more likely to win the fixture with their attacking efforts throughout.

What the 90 minutes or so also did was prove why Rodgers cannot allow complacency to kick in despite Celtic’s 13 point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	30	24	3	3	89	20	69	75
2	RangersRangers	30	19	5	6	62	28	34	62
3	HibernianHibernian	30	11	11	8	45	41	4	44
4	AberdeenAberdeen	30	12	7	11	38	46	-8	43
5	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	30	11	8	11	38	40	-2	41
6	Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian	30	11	6	13	43	40	3	39

What Rodgers said about Barry Ferguson before Celtic vs Rangers

The league is as good as over and both clubs know it. But Rodgers’ pre-match comments about Rangers and Ferguson about his counterpart’s changes at the helm came back to bite him.

Rodgers said at the time: “Listen, I don’t know Barry, but I know him as a player. And I know that he’s gone in and he’ll have a great connection with his supporters,” Rodgers said.

“His history at the club, his success at the club. He was a fantastic player for them. For me, if I look purely at the coaching aspect of it, over the course of four games, I don’t see great change.

“I see the team go 2-0 down against Kilmarnock and come back and win. I see the team lose at home to Motherwell. I see the team go away and get a fantastic result at Fenerbahce.

“And then I see the team lose last night 2-0 over 90 minutes, but win the tie. I’ve seen the team change the system. Absolutely, a really good tactical change to go 5-4-1 at Fenerbahce. But I still see a lot of the same traits.

“I think you can probably look at Barry over a longer time. If you’re talking to me about coaching and managing, and you’re talking tactics and management and professionalism and these things, that will be done over a period of time.

“If you’re looking at the short term and him coming in as someone the fans can connect with, of course he looks very happy to be in the job and taking the job, him and his staff. But I think if you’re talking coaching, I see a lot of the same traits. Some very good performances, some inconsistencies, and Barry will see that.

“Neil and his staff, I’m pretty sure as well. And then over the course of time, they’ll look to change that. But whether he was in for 4 games or 40 games, a Celtic-Rangers game will always be a tough game. Or a Rangers-Celtic game, whatever way you look at it. But it will always be a tough game.”