Brendan Rodgers has been pretty forthright with the Celtic supporters of late.
Thankfully, Celtic are heading towards another title-winning season because there would have been a lot more negativity around the manager’s comments, otherwise.
Days after the Ibrox horror show, the champions bounced back like everyone thought they would by beating St Mirren on home soil and moving 13 points clear at the top of the table.
Nicolas Kuhn netted a brace, whilst Auston Trusty, who returned to the XI, scored his first goal for the club, but it wasn’t all plain sailing for some!
Celtic opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark, but before that, the fans inside Parkhead were getting frustrated at the team for not moving the ball forward quickly enough.
Rodgers called that out post-match, and since then, it has started up a debate as to whether he was correct in his actions.
James McFadden says Celtic can’t repeat RB Leipzig-like performance
Yes, you have Celtic beating Rangers in the League Cup final last month in a game that is probably everyone’s standout moment of the campaign so far.
But the performance of the season has been the Bhoys beating RB Leipzig in the Champions League in November and how they went about doing it all.
Following Rodgers’ comments and talk about the style of play, James McFadden highlighted that match and explained how it’s ‘very difficult’ to reach those levels again because he seemingly suggested that’s what fans now expect, as he told the Warm Up.
“It’s hard because you are playing against teams that are organised against you,” said McFadden. “They are trying to close as many gaps as they can.
“At times, if you move it fast enough, then the gaps open up and maybe somebody switches off or breaks ranks. That’s when the tempo changes. It’s tough because they have a set way of playing. They want to have the ball and if it’s not a good opportunity to go forward, then it goes to the other side and what you are trying to do is move the team to create gaps. Then use the biggest assets in the speed and the counter-attack. It can be frustrating, at times, because you want to see action. But you don’t have as much control, which Brendan wants from his team.
“Since the Leipzig game, there has definitely been, that was so high, for the players and for the fans. It’s very difficult to match that or get anywhere close to it, because of how good of a performance it was and how good the atmosphere was.”
McFadden defends Greg Taylor despite Brendan Rodgers’ ‘unusual’ actions
It’s probably easier for Rodgers to be critical of the fans when you are 13 points clear, the League Cup in hand, and heading towards another title.
But McFadden feels, whilst his actions are ‘unusual’, it might all be in relation to defending Greg Taylor and how he is being viewed.
McFadden thinks the Ange Postecoglou signing, who is set to play game number 200 for Celtic against Dundee United, has been ‘excellent’ for the club over the years.
“As much as I understand what Brendan Rodgers is saying,” added McFadden. “But you still need to engage the fans. The fans are turning up, expecting their team to win, but they want to be excited as well. A sideways or backward pass doesn’t excite the fans. I get both sides of it.
“I get your point, it’s unusual for a manager to come out and be so critical. Maybe it’s more of a defence of Greg Taylor and how good he has been for Celtic, because he has been. He has been excellent.”
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