Scott Brown delivers verdict as Celtic suffer Kilmarnock defeat, states what Brendan Rodgers will do

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Scott Brown was pretty bullish about Celtic after the 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Whilst on paper, it was only the first league defeat of the season, the performance, not just yesterday, but of late, have been questionable.

Many thought the performance against Hibernian in midweek was a pretty good reaction to Brendan Rodgers not being happy with the manner of performance in Perth the week before.

But clearly, the Celtic players still have that in the system and it cost the team big time, with Scott Brown making it clear that the Bhoys will be ‘fired up’ for Hearts, as he told Sky Sports Football (10/12/23 at 2:25 pm). 

Added to that, he made it pretty clear that ‘Celtic are still top of the league’, with a five-point lead, albeit, Rangers have a game in hand. 

The two teams will meet at Parkhead on December 30, but before then, the two teams have big matches in between to deal with.

Celtic’s defeat at Kilmarnock

“He will be disappointed, but so will the players,” said Brown. “Coming here, it’s a hard place.

“The way they started the first half, it could have been 2-0. But it’s the second-half performance where they probably let themselves down. Football is all about how they can bounce back. 

“They have a huge game on Wednesday night. Then another one against Hearts, so there is time to watch the game and reflect on how they are going to change the shape or the style of play that Brendan wants.

“There is always going to be little blips. But good teams bounce back. That’s what Brendan has. He will have them fired up for Hearts, that’s for sure. They have to make sure they get out of the traps and score goals. Show they are a top team.

“As I said, they are still top of the league. There are five points. I know there is a game in hand for Rangers. But they are still in that good position.”

Celtic changes

A number of fringe players – Hyeongyu Oh, Nat Phillips and Mikey Johnston, to name a few – have started the last few matches.

But you would imagine that players like Kyogo Furuhashi will return to the XI, hopefully, Cameron Carter-Vickers is also fit to play because Philips had an afternoon to forget yesterday.

Regardless of what changes Rodgers makes to his XI, the transfer market needs to be dipped into and quality added.

Mathias Kvistgaarden’s name has been thrown about, but there seems to be one issue.