Neil Lennon says Brendan Rodgers has made feelings clear on Celtic duo after call before St Johnstone loss

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Another game to forget for Celtic in 2025.

It has become far too common for the champions-elect, but not even Brendan Rodgers was arguing against Celtic losing to St Johnstone.

Only the week before, Celtic had beaten Hearts on home soil, in a comfortable fashion, and returned from the international break with a bang.

The scene was set, win in Perth and then three points will begin the title party against Kilmarnock.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	32	25	3	4	92	21	71	78
2	RangersRangers	32	20	5	7	66	33	33	65
3	HibernianHibernian	32	13	11	8	50	41	9	50
4	AberdeenAberdeen	32	14	7	11	43	47	-4	49

But now, the Celtic Park will have to wait a little longer to celebrate title number 55, as it will be interesting to see the changes Rodgers makes for Killie.

Against St Johnstone, it was just the one change, with the harsh call to drop Maik Nawrocki from the XI, and bring back Auston Trusty.

But Neil Lennon thinks it only means one thing.

• READ MORE: The real reason Maik Nawrocki was dropped for Auston Trusty as Celtic lose to St Johnstone

Auston Trusty and Cameron Carter-Vickers are now Celtic’s starting centre-backs

Even though Liam Scales is in the background and he had a breakthrough campaign last term, and Nawrocki hasn’t done anything wrong.

Lennon feels that it is ‘pretty clear’ that it’s Trusty and Carter-Vickers who are the starters, even though he liked what he saw from Nawrocki, as he told Sky Sports Football (06/04/25 at 11:45 am).

The former Celtic player and manager explained the reason why Rodgers sees it this way, even if others disagreed with it and think Nawrocki should have kept his place in the XI.

“I think it’s pretty clear that’s his preferred two, Carter-Vickers and Trusty,” said Lennon. “He gives you that balance, and obviously the height and speed as well. And the balance when you are playing out from the back.

“I have got to say Nawrocki did very, very well. I was really surprised, because he had been out of the team for so long, he hadn’t had many minutes at all. 

“But I thought he did a great job for the two games he was in.”

Trusty’s stats for Celtic this season

Carter-Vickers might not be at his absolute best right now, but in recent years, he has been the best defender in Scotland, so nobody is taking his place.

But Trusty arrived for a big fee in the summer, and his performances, in Europe and on the domestic scene, have been mixed.

Saying that, WhoScored have provided him with ratings of over seven in the Premiership and 6.71 in the Champions League.