The warning signs for Celtic have been there for quite some time now, Saturday’s result was not an isolated incident…
Eric Knott 
(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
I honestly don’t think there’s many people out there at the moment who would now consider Saturday’s result for Celtic as an isolated incident.
In fact, the warning signs have been there for quite some time that we would pay the price in a fixture as critical as a Cup Final.
The task the manager has been left with in the wake of the season just concluded, is to somehow stop the rot.
The onus is on Brendan Rodgers to do this, just as much as it’s on the Celtic board to support him in that endeavour.
And when I say stop the rot, I mean stop the rot.
Saturday’s result against Aberdeen was proof positive that something is not right amongst the current squad.
Whether that’s down to certain players having already checked out, or something else entirely, remains to be seen.
Brendan Rodgers also has to take his fair share of responsibility in all of this.
Saturday’s result is as much on him, as it is on the players.
So when did we go from riding the crest of a wave, to swiftly descending it and ending up washed under it in the kind of fashion we did on Saturday?
It’s interesting to note the direction that both Aberdeen and Celtic took after both teams met in the League Cup Semi-final at Hampden on November 2nd last.
It’s fair to say that going into that fixture, both teams were riding the crest of a wave.
Both jointly top of the league, and both unbeaten up to that point.
The wheels were to swiftly come off Aberdeen’s title challenge after their 6-0 Semi-final defeat to Celtic.
But in the following month, in December, Celtic showed signs of wobbling too.
Obviously not to the extent Aberdeen did, but it began at the League Cup Final against the Ibrox side.
The warning signs were there in that game, but lady luck shone on us that day.
Just as she shone on Aberdeen last Saturday.
We did not play well against the Ibrox side that day.
And that final was decided in the same fashion the Scottish Cup final was decided.
Philippe Clement knew we were there for the taking that day.
We were guilty of the same frustrating slow build up, and pedestrian play we displayed last Saturday in that game too.
Clement duly acted upon that knowledge and took us apart at Ibrox at the back end of the same month.
How easily Celtic were rattled and taken apart in that game was what concerned most fans in the aftermath.
Brendan Rodgers gave assurances that there was no way he would approach the next fixture against the Ibrox side in the same way.
Yet we did, and found ourselves 2-0 down at half time and having to work extremely hard to get back into the game.
We managed to do that, but then ended up being sucker punched almost at the death and losing the game 3-2.
We then went on to lose at McDiarmid Park in what should have been the game that wrapped up the title for us.
The same slow build up, and frustrating side to side football produced no end result.
Other than a loss to the team rooted to the bottom of the table.
Rodgers appeared to be seething after that result and gave assurances we wouldn’t see that kind of performance again.
Yet we did at Ibrox in the final Derby fixture of the season.
We managed a 1-1 draw, but the football once again left an awful lot to be desired.
By the time we face the Ibrox side in the first Derby fixture of next season, it will have been a year since we last secured a League victory against them.
If that monkey is not well and truly shaken off our back in that first meeting, then serious questions will have to be asked.
We got more of the same turgid, ineffective football in the final League fixture against Stephen Robinson’s St. Mirren.
If it wasn’t for a last gasp equaliser from James Forrest, which let’s face it, was written in the stars, we would have endured a trophy day defeat.
That result didn’t seem to stir us into life either.
As fans, we probably got too carried away by the euphoria of James Forrest getting his goal in the 94th minute, followed by lifting the League trophy afterwards.
I was still a bit concerned at the lack of penetrative play on display in that game.
It worried me that we might carry that into the Cup Final.
It appears my worries were not unfounded.
I gave my own post mortem on Saturday’s result in yesterday’s article, so there isn’t really much I can add to that today.
But it’s clear it was not an isolated incident.
Above all else, what Saturday showed us is that more and more managers in the Scottish Premiership have figured out our approach, and they all know how to counter it.
It isn’t rocket science.
When we don’t have a plan B and we approach each game in the exact same manner, well?
It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.
And that’s exactly what Jimmy Thelin did on Saturday.
Nothing that he did could be classed as a masterstroke.
Contrary to what the SMSM is saying, this was no stroke of genius from Jimmy Thelin.
All he did was play the defensive game knowing it was shit or bust.
It would either frustrate the living shit out of us, which it did.
Or we would break them down eventually and get the goals we needed to win the game.
Thelin gambled on it frustrating the living shit out of us.
He also gambled on acquiring that little bit of extra luck he needed to get a result.
He duly got that luck from Kaspar Schmeichel, both in regulation time, and in the penalty shoot-out following extra-time.
As a result, we now find ourselves heading into next season with a lot of unnecessary worries creeping in.
Will Brendan Rodgers change his tactics in the new season?
Will the board back him in the transfer window knowing its the final year of his contract?
You’d have to ask that question.
Because if Rodgers doesn’t commit during the summer, then the likelihood of them backing him with big signings is highly unlikely.
And if he doesn’t commit to the club for a few more years, is he going to be as committed as he should be to ensuring his final season is a triumph in every way?
These are all legitimate concerns.
In addition to that, we all know that if there is not a tactical change in the coming season, the poor results we were witness to in the season just finished will become all the more frequent.
I’m not trying to be an alarmist here, but these are all legitimate concerns.
The club is at a crossroads after Saturday’s result.
I made it clear in yesterday’s article that complacency is no longer an option going into next season.
Because Saturday was a perfect example of what being complacent leads to.
But do any of us really have any confidence in the board changing the way they operate to push us onto the next level?
That ever elusive next level that we always talk about, but never quite seem to be able to reach?
So many questions awaiting answers this summer.
The Celtic board needs to decide sooner rather than later if Brendan Rodgers is the man to lead the next phase of Celtic’s development.
Whatever that development may look like.
If they don’t commit to Rodgers, then that is going to be a serious cause for concern.
Then that just sows the seeds of worry about another “Yes” man being brought in.
The unfortunate reality is that there is a hell of a lot of work that needs to be done this summer.
When in reality, that should never have been the case.
A lot of the current crop of players need to be moved on.
Scales, Trusty, Taylor, Ralston, Bain, Nawrocki, and Yang, to name but a few.
Starting with them would be a good start.
Be courageous and bring a keeper like Dimitar Mitov in.
Mitov has proven throughout this season he is of a good enough calibre to play for a club like Celtic.
He most certainly showed it last Saturday.
He has a Scottish Cup winners medal as proof of his endeavours.
It’s now up to Silent Mike et al to step up to the plate.
And that the thought of that doesn’t exactly fill you full of confidence, does it?
This summer is going to be one of two things for Celtic.
It will either be a resounding success for the club, or an abject failure.
There is never anything in between with this board.
The summer window of 2023 is proof positive of that, and the summer window of 2024 is the other side of the coin.
And the jury is still even out on that window.
Strange, but very unnecessary times at Celtic.
Saturday was definitely not an isolated incident.
The question going forward is this, how do we ensure this downward trend is halted?
Over to you Silent Mike…
Worried yet?
I know how you feel.
Great article but I not think Silent Mike cares a toss: However the loss of all the treble merchandise might, just might have some effect. Only rime will tell and with the CL qualifiers on the horizon time is not on our side. HH
The players you want to move on ? You would be as well saying all of them ralston comes in now and again as backup .
When celtic lost two games to a crap rangers team then we should have been concerned , and now we lose a cup final to a crap Aberdeen team then it’s should be more than concern , the board and the manager should now focus on investing in the team and retaining the manager , we need a top class striker and we need Maeda playing on the wing just in front of Tierney and Johnston on the left and Kuhn in front of him , we also need a young dynamic midfielder with aggression in his DNA and a tough aggressive central defender , we need some dig in this team . But above all Money needs invested big time .
Stop the panty wetting ffs! We’ve lost some games of Fitba and we don’t have a God given right to win everything. Players are being over-exposed to game-time and our subs are not good enough. We do need improvement particularly in midfield and CF positions but If we lift the league again next season and improve (even slightly) in Europe, I’ll be happy.
What you have seen is Brendan Rodgers football. Watched a lot of Leicester games and it was just as bad. At Celtic he is obsessed with possession which stops the players taking any risks at all as they are worried the ball is turned over (huge crime). Continually try to walk it into the box. This is in no way new. Nobody remember the exact same mind numbing games the last time he was here?
He doesn’t seem to be able to sort out the defensive woes and problems with crossed balls and cannot seem to see any talent in Nawrocki. That will be about his ball skills coming out of defence, he will ignore the lads defending skills.
You will see plenty similar games next season, be prepared for the opposite of Angeball
As has been said , we have no divine right to win everything, we know that but we’d like to see some guile when we don’t . The losses to sevco should have been a wake up call. Compared to other managers Rodgers has spent a fair bit of money , if we are to improve , I think most fans can see that we need at least 3 quality players , starters not squad players. I’ve seen this over the course of more than 50 years , we get the groundwork for a decent team and don’t build on it .
The team is now full of half hearted Harry’s. Khun looks totally uninterested and Engls is gamble that they have to stick with. If he was bought for 1m he would have been dropped months ago. We have no top striker as Idah who body language and attitude is not that of a top player. We used to have a team full of determination and non winners. Now there is a quite a few who are legends in their own heads and play as if they are too good to be playing in SF.