Brendan Rodgers shares why Celtic didn’t make any half-time changes vs Rangers in Ibrox defeat

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The morning after the night before for Celtic isn’t a pleasant one after a disappointing 3-0 defeat against Rangers at Ibrox ended their Scottish Premiership unbeaten run.

Brendan Rodgers can take solace in the fact his side retain a double-digit points gap over their rivals, but the Bhoys were woefully under-par against their rivals and paid the price.

Without stating the obvious too much, nobody earned pass marks in Celtic’s defeat to Rangers, with the Scottish Premiership champions looking unusually sluggish against a side they have defeated twice this term.

Anomalies can happen on derby day. Celtic didn’t turn up and faced a difficult task without any away support present; nevertheless, the level of performance on show wasn’t acceptable for supporters and has frustrated supporters.

Speaking after the match, Rodgers has revealed why he never changed anything on the half-time whistle despite several Hoops players falling below their usual lofty standards.

Brendan Rodgers explains no half-time changes against Rangers

Providing some honest insight, Rodgers admitted he wanted to see if his starting line-up would react to the adversity at Ibrox in the second half before eventually changing things around later down the line.

“I wanted to give the players the opportunity to see if we could get that sort of reaction and I always leave it.

“It was in my mind to do that. But no, we went for the extra 10-15 minutes, and nothing really happened. We started the second half okay, but after that, we made the change.”

Ultimately, changes didn’t make a difference to the intensity of the visitors’ patterns of play, and the drawing board will be revisited ahead of Celtic’s home clash against St Mirren this weekend.

Brendan Rodgers laments poor Celtic intensity vs Rangers

Continuing his frustration, the manager made clear that Celtic were too ‘slack’ in possession and and admitted they lost the midfield battle.

He continued: “Yes, we didn’t control the midfield. And just too many slack passes. As I said, our possession game has been at a really high level for a long period. And with that, you get the possibility to penetrate. But I thought we gave the ball away too easy today.

“Both when we were under pressure, but also when we were under no pressure. We were kicking the ball out. So yes, it’s one of those games you have to look at.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	19	16	2	1	52	7	45	50
2	RangersRangers	19	12	3	4	34	13	21	39
3	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	20	9	7	4	30	21	9	34
4	AberdeenAberdeen	20	10	4	6	32	28	4	34

Key:

Position 1 – 6 : Championship Round
Position 7 – 12 : Relegation Round

“It’s not nice, especially when you’re a supporter watching that. But we have to analyse it and be better next game.”

St Mirren are next up at Parkhead as the busy schedule continues for Celtic. Supporters will demand a reaction after what is hopefully just a blot on a fantastic season so far.