Celtic played out a frustrating draw against Dundee United as they extended their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to nine points.
Brendan Rodgers named a patchwork Celtic side at Tannadice as the Hoops boss looked to keep his 100% away win record in Tayside.
Unfortunately for the Celtic boss, his players failed to test Dundee United to the standard that the Hoops fans are used to and despite a late attacking flurry towards the end of the game, a 0-0 draw was played out much to the frustration of Rodgers.
The Celtic boss admits he’s disappointed with his team’s performance but did find time to praise two of his players despite drawing a stalemate at Tannadice.
Brendan Rodgers hails two Celtic performers after Dundee United stalemate
Speaking to Sky Sports Scotland, Rodgers said, “We arrived into all the areas that we wanted to, and we were in there often enough.
“But my feeling in the game, we didn’t work at the keeper enough. We had so many opportunities in there and we never had the target.
“We passed it well through and connected the game and the ‘keeper made a really good save at the end when Arne popped up to poke it through the legs, and he had to react quickly.
“We had a great chance with Kyogo as well and we’re in the areas we want to be but we just, especially in the first half, I didn’t think we worked the keeper enough.
But guys like Stephen [Welsh] coming in today, I thought he was excellent. He and Scales were very good in difficult conditions, with the wind and everything. But it just looked like we couldn’t score.
Brendan Rodgers rues Celtic’s lack of ruthlessness vs Dundee United
“It’s just being clinical,” Rodgers continues, “I think that you always want to hit the target and a couple of other moments as well, where, again, we get into really good areas across and we just weren’t quite reading it well enough for anticipating the runs to get in there.
So I’d just be a little bit more ruthless in our finishing and, as I said, making the keeper work. That’s about accuracy and being clinical, but I can’t fault the effort of the players and what they gave.
“And some of the quality of the football was very good. We created enough chances, we could have had more possibilities, but, like I said, just wasn’t to be.
For Celtic, Rodgers moves on to the next game which is Motherwell on Boxing Day at Celtic Park. The Hoops boss knows he can’t give Rangers any more encouragement after the Ibrox club stole a march on Aberdeen who are now sitting in third place.
The Celtic fans can take comfort in the fact that they have now visited every away ground in the Scottish Premiership and come out the other end unbeaten with a healthy lead at the top.
With two home games up next, Rodgers will be looking to go into the Ibrox Glasgow Derby with his nine-point lead intact or, if results go Celtic’s way, an even healthier lead at the top.
