Celtic’s defending yesterday indicates that this title race is far from over, Rodgers needs to ruthless for the run in
Eric Knott 
I don’t know about you, but I had to sit in a dark room yesterday, and have a few stiff drinks to calm my nerves after that semi-final performance.
That was nerve shredding.
I had to watch the highlights again this morning because it all seemed a blur to me.
Kind of like when you get into a fight, and you can never clearly remember afterwards what happened.
Adrenalin pumps through you in situations like that, and clarity of thought becomes secondary.
I think the same applied to yesterday.
I was at my CSC for the game, and all throughout the penalty shoot out, I kept saying to my mate, “Joe Hart never saves penalties.”
Then when he missed his, I just said, “he owes us one after that!”
Before the final penalty, I kept saying out loud, “He’s going to save it, he’s going to save it, he’s going to save it.”
And that’s exactly what he did.
But that didn’t make the whole experience any easier.
The overriding feeling at the end of it all was just sheer relief.
Celtic rode their luck throughout that whole contest.
At no point did we dominate proceedings, and at no point were we ever comfortable.
Maybe if Adam Idah hadn’t been offside for his disallowed goal, then we might have been able to see extra time out in comfort.
The fact that we conceded two identical goals in the last minutes of normal, and extra time, was nothing short of criminal.
The media are all over our performance from yesterday.
Painting it as some sort of beacon of hope for the Ibrox side.
Celtic have a full week to focus on weeding out those kind of mistakes, on stamping them out.
Because you can be sure of one thing, Tony Docherty will be showing his side videos of both goals over, and over again.
He will be picking out every weakness Celtic showed throughout that Cup Semi-final.
Of which there were many.
And as much as it pains me to say it, one of the weakest links was Liam Scales.
Being Irish myself, I always want to see the Irish contingent in our squad doing well.
But for me, Scales was a car crash yesterday.
To be caught once in a situation like that is bad enough, but to be caught a second time in a carbon copy of it?
Well, that to me, is reason enough to be benched.
I think Maik Nawrocki should be given a chance to show Celtic what he can do for the run in.
Because I genuinely doubt he could do worse than that.
Brendan Rodgers shouldn’t need to think too hard about it.
He needs to be ruthless in this title run in.
There is too much at stake here.
I’m not saying drop Scales altogether, but he needs to realise that at this level, that kind of defending just doesn’t cut it.
Scales, however, is not entirely at fault here.
Alistair Johnston stood off Junior Hoilett on both occasions which, allowed him to deliver the crosses that led to both late equalisers for Aberdeen.
One Canadian made a fool out of another, not once, but twice.
If Rodgers and his coaching staff don’t come up with a solution to this issue, then it’s going to be one hell of a scary ride between now and May 25th.
This is a defence that has now only managed 2 clean sheets in 10 games.
When the Ibrox side come Celtic Park on the 11th of May, if we are as generous as we were to the Dons yesterday, well, who knows what could happen?
Listen, I understand that the whole of Aberdeen’s season was riding on this game.
It was their one and only shot at glory.
They gave it their all.
We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy ride.
But at the same time, we made it harder on ourselves than necessary.
We panicked needlessly throughout the contest, after all, it was a misplaced pass in midfield that led to Aberdeen’s late equaliser in normal time.
We’ve seen this time and time again this season.
What happens to our players that they just go from cool, calm, composed individuals, to headless chickens who make simple passing seem like quantum physics?
It’s the epitome of rabbits in the headlights stuff.
A player receives a pass, shits himself, and just gives it straight to an opposing player.
When there are countless options all around him.
It always seems to happen when we have just gained control of a game as well.
Generally after scoring a goal which gives us the advantage.
We really need to get a grip on this.
And it needs to be Rodgers’ focus throughout the next week of training.
Yesterday has to be the wake up call that was needed to stamp this out, and start getting it right.
We also need to consider ourselves very lucky we got away with that late penalty shout for Aberdeen.
I wasn’t entirely sure what Don Robertson was at throughout that whole process, but in the end, he called a free kick for a foul on Alistair Johnston.
It could have been a hell of a lot worse.
Like I said, Rodgers needs to be ruthless for the run in.
There’s too much riding on this to take any chances.
On a positive note, we are in another Cup final.
We’ll find out later today who our opponents are going to be.
And with the way the Ibrox side have been playing of late, it’s anyone’s guess who will come out on top in today’s other Semi.
If Naismith wants to gain any credibility as a coach, he needs to stop being in thrall to his previous employers.
He has one of the League’s most lethal finishers, and he ought to be thankful he’s not playing for the Ibrox side today.
Shankland himself also has a point to prove.
He needs to make Clement regret not signing him.
Either way, we need to be very wary of who we face in the final.
Hearts have caused us more trouble this season than the Ibrox side, so if it’s them we face, you can bet your bottom dollar they would have a field day if they came up against defending like yesterday’s.
I’d like to say I’m happy the double is still on.
And I am, but I’m far from relaxed.
Far from confident.
There’s a way to go in this yet.
Yesterday was a wake up call.
Let’s hope it was the final one.
Click here for – NO, CELTIC DO NOT FACE “NIGHTMARE” SCENARIO AFTER “REMARKABLE” IBROX DEVELOPMENT
Click here for – CLEMENT IS RATTLED, HIS PLAYERS ARE RATTLED, AND CELTIC REMAIN TOP BY 3. THEY’RE THERE FOR THE TAKING AT HAMPDEN ON SUNDAY IF HEARTS ACTUALLY SHOW UP
You pretty much nailed it when you said BR needs to be ruthless. Few people know, but BR is a manic depressive and I’m convinced this plays a part in his team selection sometimes. The first kind words or support offered by a player and BOOM he’s a dead ringer for the team selection next game. As much as BR likes to play at being a genuine Celtic man, he doesn’t have the hard edge of Jock, Martin and even Ange. Get hard, play hard, win hard. No prisoners.
Taylor doesn’t help matters. He has been poor for months. With Maeda out we are extremely vulnerable on the left hand side, this includes Scales under performing.McGregor doesn’t seem to be at either. Has been poor since his return including Ibrox.
As we all know Aberdeen scored 2 almost identical goals at the back ,left post yesterday ..with nowt learned from the first goal ! When the average Dons striker is around 7ft 4 “and Greg Taylor is 5ft 5 “we don’t need the talents of Lord Martin Rees – the Astronomer Royal- to tell us that high balls crossed into our 6 yard box is kind of a huge disadvantage to us …you see , mathematics and sports science is useful and all that….after all !
Our ropiest part of the game was when both Hatate were removed. I agreed with the decision at the time, as the title is our main priority. Having both these guys in the team for the run-in, should make a big difference to performances. I hope.
Hail Hail.
…and Kyogo
What I don’t understand is when Nowrocki came on why Scales didn’t understand he was now left-centre-half of 3. Not 1 of 2 centre half’s. Stand still and the guy doesn’t get a header in. We need to practice 3 centre half’s in Europe and at times of need in spfl
Both mistakes were amateur mistakes and if we can’t sort this stuff out in training then there is a huge problem at the club with the defensive side of training.
As soon as the winger comes inside on to his right foot the line should be pushed out (they all did apart from Scales, twice).
I’m not a big fan of Taylor (though he’s been better lately) however he wasn’t to blame as he held his line with CCV.
For me big Nawrocki looks calm when he’s defending and also has a better mentality than Scales.
HH
Whole team, including the manager were woeful, pass marks only to Hart and Forest for me. As alluded too, how many wakeup calls does a team need?. Sadly I think this is indicative of a lack of class in the team, meaning they are just not capable of responding to the many warnings.
Great to be in another final but our overall game was not convincing attack shot shy defence awful especially Taylor and Scales
I really don’t know the best place to start my Summary of Celtic’s performance v Aberdeen at Hampden. In short it was abysmal and the
just the usual tripe post match commentary is pathetic for a lack of honesty by the manager amongst others. Luck was the common factor from 90minutes to the final whistle. We didn’t hear this- just the usual tripe, such as BR’s ” form and tactical approach to your opponent”. Celtic were asleep at the wheel to conceed a goal after only two minutes. Wake up!
To lose a goal lead at 90 mins -wake up! And then to repeat that at 120 mins – again. Still asleep! Definitely abysmal.
In attack , James Forrest came off the bench to show his mental strength. Where was the mental strength from the first team choices? Who is Rodgers applauding , himself or Forrest? The team was not good enough and, once again, failed to live up to forecasting predictions.
Aberdeen, a team that has lost 14 of 33 league games, and only managed 35 goals ( Ave a goal a game) put three past Celtic. They were the unlucky ones, let’s be honest. Hart is not a Top Guy , he missed a penalty, Ah, but he saved one. All is forgiven, then? So it was a pulverised Cup semi. What garbage ! It has been said that Celtic played some brilliant football during the past weeks; where did they do that? At Lennoxtown? Why not at Hampden? We constantly hear “Celtic were not at their best today” Why not, if they can do it at Lennoxtown? Get real Rodgers, your international squad is just not good enough and you are well short of the mark yourself.
That team that started yesterday wasn’t far off an Ange team that won the treble last season bar a few players. How can the mentality have changed so much in a year?
Also McGregor isn’t fit and apparently needing an op. Scales needs to be dropped. He needs to stop starting Yang. Maedas a huge miss.
BR has never been able to organise a defence