BRENDAN RODGERS reckoned his Celtic players were too passive in their previous visit to Ibrox as the champions ushered in a new year.
After an inexplicable 3-0 loss on January 2, the manager’s summing-up was exceedingly polite. Comatose would have been nearer the mark.
No visiting player came even close to passmarks that befuddling afternoon where the visitors were relegated to bit-part performers. It was a procession of pain from start to finish for Hoops fans witnessing an embarrassing and wretched collapse on TV worldwide.
GLUM IN GOVAN…an unimpressed Brendan Rodgers at Ibrox in January.
Rodgers had lost just once in 20 derby confrontations as he prepared for the match against Philippe Clement’s struggling team.
The Parkhead men went into the contest with a 13-point advantage at the Premiership pinnacle and the fourth successive title was a formality.
Over the sequence of six previous league games, Kasper Schmeichel had not been required to fish the ball out of his net even once.
Clement’s team had limped through their previous two outings, dropping five out of six points, losing 2-1 to St Mirren and drawing 2-2 with Motherwell.
And then, in incomprehensible and excruciating fashion, the roof fell in on Celtic who contrived to have a solitary shot on target throughout a mind-numbing 90-plus minutes.
Maybe complacency had been allowed to infiltrate the ranks of Rodgers’ players. Probably understandable in the circumstances but no less acceptable.
However, in the spirit of bonhomie, let’s cut the Hoops players some slack.
IN WITH A SHOUT…Callum McGregor celebrates Celtic’s fourth successive title at Tannadice a week ago.
Yes, it was a fairly spectacular false start to 2025. Let’s not forget, though, that the Parkhead lads had picked up all three domestic trophies in 2024.
They are now on the cusp of their sixth treble in nine years if Aberdeen do not provide a banana skin in the Scottish Cup showcase at Hampden in three weeks’ time.
That buys a lot of goodwill. The players do not owe you or I an explanation for their lacklustre displays in the last two error-strewn derbies.
But, as they prepare for Ibrox tomorrow for the midday locking of horns, they may owe themselves a performance.
They know they are superior in every way to their opponents. It’s a match between champions and also rans.
You can’t even begin to compare the qualities of the respective managers.
Brendan Rodgers, Callum McGregor and Co will not welcome another stain on their record.
This is their ideal opportunity to do something about rectifying this particular wrong.
ALEX GORDON
