Michael Stewart reckons Brendan Rodgers has been sending out a pretty deliberate message regarding transfers at Celtic this summer and thinks the Bhoys are in a sticky situation heading into next week’s derby.
The Bhoys have failed to win for the second week in succession. While that may be normal for many clubs, at Celtic, it isn’t and hasn’t been for a while there are still trophies to be won.
After crashing out of the Scottish League Cup and now dropping points in the Scottish Premiership, the reigning champions are now heading into a much trickier schedule of fixtures and fans are understandably concerned, with boos even heard at the full-time whistle on Saturday.
Asked for his thoughts on Rodgers’ transfer comments through the week when the Bhoys boss stated that his team is weaker than last season, Stewart surmised that the Celtic manager is sending a message out that he isn’t happy with the business done by the club so far.
The pundit told BBC Radio Scotland [17:12]: “Look, when Brendan Rodgers comes out with comments like that, it’s very pointed, deliberate and it’s loaded.
“They’ve got a lot of injuries to key players in key positions, but even putting that to one side you’re looking at last week’s performance against Kilmarnock and St Johnstone there today – one word that keeps being mentioned is ‘flat’. They’ve lacked any real intensity or cutting edge in the game.
“If you rewind ten days, before the Kilmarnock game, you would look at the result at Pittodrie and think it wasn’t the best performance but they’ve gone and won 3-1 away from home, that they’re starting and getting things moving towards that big Rangers game.
“Fast forward and now that is a massive, massive game for Celtic and Brendan Rodgers. Over the longer term they’ve got an incredibly good manager who will work things out, but in the short term things are a little bit sticky. With the players they’re missing and the performances the last two games, it does not put Celtic in a good position going into next week.”
It’s clear that Celtic are now entering a massive eight days on and off the pitch. There’s a clutch of quality transfer deals to do, a UEFA Champions League draw and then that huge match at Ibrox.
It’s a fixture that few Celtic fans will be looking forward to at this point in time. Yes, Rangers have hardly looked like world beaters themselves in the early stages of the season, but the Bhoys’ makeshift defence and attacking woes don’t exactly fill us with much confidence.
But things change quickly in football and we can’t catastrophise too much. If Celtic show signs of progress over the coming days everyone will feel a bit better. Admittedly, tonight, after watching today’s performance it feels like a big if.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers responds to chorus of Celtic Park boos after draw against St Johnstone.
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