SEETHING Brendan Rodgers branded Celtic “passive”, “careless” and “lacking aggression” as they surrendered a two-goal lead in the 2-2 stalemate with spirited Aberdeen at Parkhead.
Strikes inside the first half-hour from Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi had the champions seemingly headed unerringly in the direction of of their eighth successive league victory, a feat the club have achieved only five times in their history.
However, a double from the visitors in a 10-minute burst after the break saw the Hoops carelessly toss away two points in front of a stunned audience in the east end of Glasgow.
A WRY GRIN…Brendan Rodgers delivers his thoughts at the end of a disappointing display.
A pocket of travelling fans celebrated joyously and they almost took the roof off when they thought Duk had scored a third goal, but the effort was correctly ruled out for handball after a VAR intervention.
And the Portuguese ace was also involved in a flashpoint incident in the fading moments when he appeared to handle an Alistair Johnston drive on the line, but once again new technology proved the ball had hit his thigh first before ricocheting to safety.
A clearly disappointed Rodgers reflected: “When you drop points, whether it’s home or away — but especially at home — you’re disappointed. We got punished for being careless, I felt, in that 10-minute period.
“We had good control first-half, should have been more in front. And then probably around about that 50th minute, 60th minute, we got a little bit passive without the ball and lacked aggression.
“And when you play how we play, if you don’t have that, then there’s a space for you in the back, you’re behind. And they finished it well.
“And obviously for the second one we were careless. We gave it away in a really, really poor area and then they get the goal for 2-2.
“But then after that we go again and had 32 shots or something on goal. We didn’t get the winner. But yeah, we were careless in that second-half.”
It was all very frantic at the end when Adam Idah had an effort ruled out for a foul by Johnston on keeper Dimitar Mitov, there was a penalty claim when Luke McCowan was sent crashing just a foot or so outside the box, Mitov clawed away a header from Idah and then Duk performed heroics in the dying seconds.
ONE FOR THE BOOK…Brendan Rodgers takes notes at Parkhead.
Rodgers, speaking to the Daily Mail, continued: “The penalty one, it looked close, but you have to respect the referee’s decisions.
“The handball one, I haven’t seen it, to be honest, but the guys on the bench said they’re not sure it was. So, yeah, we didn’t get it.”
Rodgers’ side had a remarkable TWENTY-NINE efforts on goal, but failed to punish the Dons who sit on the same amount of points as the Parkhead men, but trail on goal difference.
The Hoops gaffer added: “No matter how much control you have, 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline. Especially if the opponent gets the next goal because it gives them an energy.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect, coming on the back of all the guys travelling all the way around the world and coming back in, but I would expect us to see that game through.
“At the same time, it’s not often a team comes here, especially when they’re 2-0 down at half-time and they come back out having made such positive changes and they really try to make a positive impact on your guys.
“I think you have to give credit to Aberdeen because they were 2-0 down and we were the dominant team in the game.
“I think, for Aberdeen, it’s a really good point. For us, we’re obviously disappointed with the result.”
