Brendan Rodgers might have felt let down by his Celtic squad last weekend.
Celtic lost 3-2 to Rangers in front of their own fans in what was a miserable result for the league leaders. The manager has a good record vs Gers but has now been beaten twice on the spin.
It is uncharacteristic for the Celtic boss to lose against his side’s rivals considering he knows how important these games are for the club and the fanbase. And the Irishman constantly drills that thought into his players’ minds.
That is one reason in particular that Mark Wilson feels Rodgers will be hurting after his side flopped at Celtic Park.
Sure there’s still a 13-point lead for Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership. The Hoops won’t be caught and they’ll be crowned champions in May again.
Brendan Rodgers ‘hurt his pride’ in Celtic loss to Rangers
But last Sunday it was about more than the title and Celtic let themselves down.
“Without doubt (derby loss) hurt Celtic fans. Not just fans, the players and staff. Brendan Rodgers has shown he’s an outstanding manager, particularly here in Scotland,” Wilson said on Clyde Superscoreboard.
“This fixture means a lot to him, he always says it before them. So he’s well aware what a loss brings as well now because he’s lost a few.
That will hurt his pride, the Celtic players will be hurting about it. They are away on international duty or some of them some time off to recover. It’s never nice to end that period of the season with a loss to your rivals like Sunday.”
Rodgers said Celtic missed Callum McGregor after the Glasgow derby action in what was an honest assessment at full-time.
Rodgers was forced to rue his Celtic words before Rangers game
But that cannot be allowed to fly as an excuse as to why they lost the game. One man does not make a team and Rodgers should know that.
The manager was beaten by rookie coach Barry Ferguson and Rodgers was forced to rue his words from before the game kicked off.
At the time he said: “Listen, I don’t know Barry, but I know him as a player. And I know that he’s gone in and he’ll have a great connection with his supporters,” Rodgers said.
“His history at the club, his success at the club. He was a fantastic player for them. For me, if I look purely at the coaching aspect of it, over the course of four games, I don’t see great change.
“I see the team go 2-0 down against Kilmarnock and come back and win. I see the team lose at home to Motherwell. I see the team go away and get a fantastic result at Fenerbahce.
“And then I see the team lose last night 2-0 over 90 minutes, but win the tie. I’ve seen the team change the system. Absolutely, a really good tactical change to go 5-4-1 at Fenerbahce. But I still see a lot of the same traits.
