‘Not a one-off’: – Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers names one key quality his side desperately lack

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Celtic find themselves in a scenario they didn’t want to be in at the end of this weekend courtesy of their stalemate against Kilmarnock.

David Watson’s 92nd-minute equaliser for the visitors, coupled with Rangers’ comfortable victory over St Johnstone, has left Brendan Rodgers’ second in the Scottish Premiership table with just 12 games left to play this term.

Rewinding to yesterday afternoon, things seemed to be a lot more promising around the time that Kyogo Furuhashi opened the scoring for the Bhoys on 32 minutes; nevertheless, their 1-1 draw with the Ayrshire side has since had negative ramifications.

Derek McInnes has now taken a result off Celtic on three out of his four meetings with the reigning champions, which perfectly illustrates the Hoops’ failure to navigate past low-block defences regularly.

Rodgers has now presided over a Scottish League Cup exit and finished bottom of his side’s Champions League group; meanwhile, their league form is beginning to taper off at a crucial time, albeit they still have an opportunity to turn this around.

Ultra-positive supporters will point to the fact the Irishman could bring home a league and Scottish Cup double before 2023/24 concludes; however, optimism is beginning to dwindle for some amid Celtic’s recent performances.

As they say, time is the greatest healer, though it is unclear how much will change in a week ahead of the Hoops’ trip to face Motherwell next Sunday.

Brendan Rodgers elaborates on one quality Celtic lack

Post-match on Saturday, Rodgers criticised Celtic’s inability to carry themselves correctly from a defensive perspective, which led to their eventual downfall against Kilmarnock.

The 51-year-old made another interesting observation, claiming that the Bhoys lacked the ‘aggression’ and hunger required to see out victory.

Rodgers stated [BBC Sport]: “It’s not a one-off. It’s happened too many times and that’s been when you look at the metrics in analysis perspective, the defensive side is the one area there’s been a drop.

“We’ve been missing key players in those positions. That aside, we have to be harder to beat at times. We have to be more aggressive, and if you’re having to see out a game, you’ve got to be able to do that.

“It’s just happened too many times. There needs to be a greater hunger to stop a goal from going in.”

Celtic’s defending for Kilmarnock’s equaliser was woeful

Celtic were all at sea for Kilmarnock’s equalising goal, and any number of players could be apportioned the blame for conceding in the dying moments.

First of all, the Bhoys failed to put pressure on the ball before it was worked wide. Once the play progressed to the left channel, Anthony Ralston could’ve perhaps done more to stop the cross from Fraser Murray.

Alexandro Bernabei then got caught underneath the flighted delivery, allowing Watson a free header from close range that he duly stuck away.

Football is a team game, and collective responsibility has to lie with the team for letting the visitors rescue a point at Parkhead, which has already proved to be a damaging outcome.