CELTIC got off to a false start at Dens Park when a shower of tennis balls rained down on the pitch from irate fans only moments after the kick-off.
It took three minutes to clear the debris while there were the predictable chants of “sack the board” ringing around that section of the ground.
Kasper Schmeichel was just one of the Hoops players looking mightily frustrated by the latest protest from supporters in the ongoing friction with the Parkhead powerbrokers.
The demonstration may well have acted as a diversion to the job at hand for a team who knew a victory was a must with Hearts moving five points clear at the Premiership pinnacle the previous evening following an impressive 3-0 rout of Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.
SUPPORT ACT…Brendan Rodgers attempts to encourage his toiling players at Dens Park.
It didn’t get much better for the champions when Dundee took the lead in the 18th minute with the unguarded Clark Robertson allowed to make perfect contact with a right-wing corner-kick delivery to send a header hurtling low into the unprotected corner of the Hoops’ net.
The players trooped in at the interval two goals adrift after Cameron Carter-Vickers diverted a second past his own keeper in stoppage-time.
The second-half was an anti-climax with the visitors incapable of finding another gear against a struggling side who started the day second bottom of the league.
Rodgers now finds himself performing a high-wire balancing act with no safety net in sight.
The 52-year-old Irishman is refusing to condemn the actions of the fans he needs to keep onside.
Asked if the interruption disrupted his players, Rodgers answered: “I don’t know, but what I know is it was right at the beginning of the game and we’ve still got a long, long way to go after that.
“It doesn’t stop you giving the ball away and losing a goal on a counter-attack.
“It doesn’t stop you getting blocked off on the pitch. We can’t use that as an excuse. We really can’t. Of course, it’s been simmering all summer and into the beginning of the season.
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD…Callum McGregor has something to say.
“However, we can only focus on the pitch and we can be better, for sure. Listen, I’m not going to tell the supporters what to do. They’re frustrated, of course.
“The fans are the heart of this club. The passion is here. It’s their life. It’s their love. And they want to see the team doing well.
“We had enough time in the game and enough of the ball to do better for them. We didn’t do that. So, it’s on us.”
Rodgers wasn’t immune from the flak that came the way of the boss and the players as the visiting supporters let their feelings known after yet another substandard display from the team.
The manager, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “When you’re at a club like Celtic, it’s always on you. It was on me when I first came back. We got through that.
“It’ll be on us now when we’re not at our best level and we’ll get through this, as well.
“But, ultimately, we need to be better. We’re not playing with the speed and influence that this team has done before. I have to find a way to get us back to that level.
OH NO…Yang Hyun-jun mirrors the thoughts of his Celtic team-mates.
“Obviously, you’re trying to look at the different ways to set the team up and obviously we change the structure at half-time and trying to find different solutions that way. I’ll always look at myself first and analyse myself and where I can be better.
“It’s my responsibility to try and find a way to get what I can out of the players that we have in this moment. That’s always the first port of call.
“I know the players care. I know that they care for the new guys coming in. It’s a real eye-opener to the pressures of being at a huge club. You never know that until you’re in.
“You go through the demands of what is required.
“But I’ve got no doubt that the guys want to do well and we have to find a way of scoring the goals and creating the goals that increases the confidence level in the team.
“It was clear in the summer, but it’s really the past now. There’s nothing we can do about it.
“We had the opportunities to do what we needed to do. It didn’t happen, so now it’s finding ways, whether it’s 4-3-3, whether it’s 3-4-3, whether it’s 3-5-2. We’re trying to look at all these different permutations within the team.
“But, ultimately, you need that quality to break down teams that are low on the pitch.
“And for us this season, that’s been the real challenging aspect for us. But it’s a challenge that I relish.”
DENS PARK DESPAIR …Johnny Kenny, Kieran Tierney, Arne Engels, ViljamI Sinisalo and Liam Scales at the final whistle.
Rodgers now has to plan for a Europa League encounter against Austria’s Sturm Graz on Thursday evening at Parkhead before the vital trip to Tynecastle on Sunday.
He added: “There’s absolutely no doubt, it’s been a struggle from the beginning of the season.
“However, we have to stay together and we have to find a way to get the results and get the confidence in the team.
“It’s not even in my thinking about Hearts.
“We’ve got to recover from this result, we’ve got to analyse and see where we can be better and then we’ve got a massive game on Thursday.
“Clearly, we’re not at the levels that we’ve been in the past, but it’s such a long season. It’s such a long season, still very early.
“We haven’t performed on this occasion and we have to be honest about that.
“It’s nowhere near the level of what we’d expect.”
CLUELESS AND POINTLESS FROM BRENDAN’S LOST BHOYS
