Before anyone starts about calling Celtic’s defeat at Dundee humiliating as an overreaction, let’s not forget three things here.
Before Celtic lost at Dens Park, Dundee had scored six goals in seven games and were battered 4-0 by a struggling Jimmy Thelin’s Aberdeen who were winless at the bottom of the table.
Dundee have also averaged just over two shots on target per game this season as Steven Pressley’s side struggle to find the back of the net.
Against Celtic, the Taysiders scored two goals against a Celtic backline that have seasoned international defenders in Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kieran Tierney, Liam Scales and Anthony Ralston.
And that’s before we get to the lack of creativity in the midfield and the state of Celtic’s attacking front line.
So with all that in mind, here are three things 67 Hail Hail learned as we watched Celtic’s goalless performance against Dundee.
Four Celtic players who need immediately benched and one should never start again
There are players in this Celtic side that have clearly been struggling for a number of weeks, if not months.
And if Rodgers doesn’t act on it now, the Celtic boss is in danger of losing this league title and allowing Rangers to creep up to them in second place.
Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren all need a spell on the sidelines but all for different reasons.
The Celtic captain needs rested. McGregor has been overused by Rodgers whilst young blood like Paulo Bernardo, Arne Engels and Luke McCowan kick their heels on the sidelines.
Benjamin Nygren has flattered to deceive after a bright start at Celtic and the Swede is known more for his ear-cupping than his goalscoring threat.
Kieran Tierney, for whatever reason, looks miles off the pace still and Saracchi should replace him for a spell moving forward.
And as for Reo Hatate, the Japanese midfielder checked out a long time ago and for the eighth week running, has offered virtually next to nothing in a Celtic jersey.
As for the player who should never start again? That accolade goes to Hyunjun Yang who yet again offered nothing on the right wing when there is a perfectly good winger in Michel-Ange Balikwisha champing at the bit to get going at Celtic.
Yes, he’s a right winger but even at that the Belgian is still a better option than Yang who has now run his course at the club.
Brendan Rodgers appears devoid of ideas at Celtic
Now the attention turns to Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has produced the same brand of monotonous football not just this season, but towards the tail end of last season also.
Despite clear evidence that the players he has doesn’t suit a 4-3-3, Rodgers still perseveres with a formation that does nothing but produce a boring brand of football and struggles against a low block.
The Northern Irishman tried to shake things up against Dundee at half time but by then it was already too late.
And before anyone says it’s because the board have weakened the Celtic first team, no one can disagree with that, but is anyone seriously suggesting that the players Rodgers has are not good enough to beat Dundee, Kairat, and SC Braga this season?
The problems at Celtic are rightly aimed at the board, but the more these insipid performances carry on, the more Rodgers will come under some serious pressure at the club.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
