Celtic hit with ‘all over the place’ verdict as Rangers loss shows uncharacteristic side of ‘angry man’ Brendan Rodgers

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Celtic were “all over the place” against Rangers as they lost a second derby in a row last weekend.

The Hoops were beaten 3-2 by their rivals on what was a miserable day where the hosts at Parkhead didn’t put in the same level of performance fans have come to expect.

Brendan Rodgers claimed Celtic missed Callum McGregor which was evident, but the manager won’t have absolved the rest of his squad just because their captain was sidelined.

Celtic were 2-0 down at the break and Rodgers would have been an “angry man” at half-time, so says former Ibrox attacker Gordon Dalziel. It was a fair assessment considering the league leaders roared back to 2-2 before slipping up again late on to concede the eventual winner.

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Celtic were ‘all over the place’ vs Rangers

But Dalziel simply insisted on Clyde Superscoreboard that Celtic were too slack at the back.

“They were all over the place, Celtic, defensively. If you’re Brendan Rodgers looking at set-plays, you’re not expecting the first goal Nico Raskin to get in,” Dalziel said.

“Throughout the game, the casual, the mistakes, the one Schmeichel gave to Cerny who should’ve put the ball in the net… they just looked slack defensively, for me. They weren’t at it.”

BBC man Richard Gordon said Celtic were the team most likely to win the clash after clawing back the deficit and Dalziel tends to agree on that point.

Gordon Dalziel says Celtic looked more likely to beat Rangers

However the fact that Hamza Igamane would net the winning goal showed Rodgers and his side have work to do after the international break – and moving forward having shipped nine goals vs Gers in three matches.

“If you analyse it all Rangers certainly had the better of the first-half,” Dalziel continued. “Thought Celtic – and it will always happen because Brendan Rodgers obviously went in an angry man not happy with what he was watching – got right back into it early in the second-half.

“Celtic are gonna dominate play, they had that spell. I just thought there was always gonna be a winner. Now, if you were watching the game, with the possession facts, at home, Celtic have got back into it, you’d probably say it favours Celtic to win the game.

“It would’ve been a great result and Celtic fans would’ve been on here lording it up, but it took a real good strike from Igamane.”