Back in September, Pat Bonner stated that Viljami Sinisalo should become Celtic’s number one goalkeeper.
That never happened, and Kasper Schmeichel kept the gloves, but the experienced shot stopper has had a torrid time of it since then, including on Thursday night in the Europa League.
Celtic were beaten 4-1 by VfB Stuttgart, and Bonner explained that he was ‘annoyed’ by how Schmeichel attempted to clear the ball for the opposition’s opening goal.
Whilst others were picking out the midfield and defence for how they were dealing with that loose ball, which Bilal El Khannouss pounced on and fired home, Bonner admitted that his mind was still focused on what Schmeichel had just done.
- READ MORE: Joe Hart explains why Paulo Bernardo is at fault for Celtic conceding first to VfB Stuttgart
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Pat Bonner ‘annoyed’ by Kasper Schmeichel after Celtic concede opening goal to Stuttgart
At the age of 39, it’s pretty clear that Schmeichel is on the decline and not worthy to wear the number one shirt for Celtic.
From his shot-stopping to his kicking, it’s all going wrong, as Bonner questioned on BBC Radio Scotland (19/02/26) why the former Premier League star kicked the ball out ‘about 45 yards’ from his goal rather than ‘over the halfway line’ for Stuttgart’s opener.
“I was very much focused on the situation before it, when the ball comes back to him, and he kicks it,” said Bonner. “Almost clears his lines, but kicks it away up into the air.
“The ball drops down to about what? Maybe about 45 yards out. That ball should have been up and over the halfway line, and clear your lines. The next part comes from that.
“James (McFadden) called it better than me because I was annoyed by what I had seen just before that. That ball goes in just on his left shoulder, and it wasn’t very far away from him. He shouldn’t probably make the mistake.”
And then Stuttgart’s third goal…
If you thought the opener was bad, well, Stuttgart’s third goal of the night, scored by Jamie Leweling, was much worse and a carbon copy of what has been happening at home in Europe this season…conceding from distance!
It was a standard shot to save, yet once again, Schmeichel was diving like someone had fired a rocket at him, and once again, the ball scrambled underneath him and into the back of the net.
“I would probably put that down to two errors from Kasper,” added Bonner. “You are saying, Jonathan (Sutherland), you are the one in the studio, you are looking at the pictures.
“You are saying that Schmeichel, there are two goals he was at fault for. There is no question (he has to do better).
“I am looking at it, thinking. ‘Yeah, the first one, definitely.’ The second one, ‘there was pace on the ball down to his right-hand side.’ In his heyday, he would have made that save.”
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