Brendan Rodgers has right to Celtic defence over my gut feeling but 2 missing factors are still on him – Chris Sutton

Brendan Rodgers has right to Celtic defence over my gut feeling but 2 missing factors are still on him – Chris Sutton

The Hoops boss fired back at claims from the Record Sport columnist that he was “going through the motions” at Parkhead.

Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers says he’s never gone through the motions. Fair enough. He has every right to defend himself and his record at Celtic first time around suggested he was right on point then.

But the past only gets you so far. I can only base my comments honestly on gut feeling from what he’s saying, my own instincts and call what I see at this moment in time. And, right now, there’s not enough coming from Rodgers and his team. They’ve been sleepwalking in too many games. Rodgers spoke about a lack of desire and passion after the loss to Hearts. As the manager, that’s on him.

There are certain things outwith the control of a boss during a season and variables you cannot legislate for such as injuries to important players. But one thing a manager can control is the side’s attitude and Rodgers’ admissions last weekend were stark and, if I’m being totally honest, didn’t reflect well on him. He said key traits were missing from the first whistle. So what did he say or not say in the dressing room pre-match for them to start like that?

Now Rodgers is talking about feeling negativity when he first returned. I actually felt he had the backing of most people for having the courage to come back in the first place. Some dissenters, yes. But results get rid of them.

Quite simply, lack of harmony comes when a team is not delivering. The performances on the park for the majority of this season are the cause of the current negativity and disharmony and nothing else.

If that weren’t the case, why not say it earlier? I couldn’t quite understand the depth of vitriol towards the board last weekend.

It’s obvious the quality of those signed has been nowhere near high enough, but, whatever the work done by Mark Lawwell and his recruitment staff in that window and the money spent or not spent, the final say on signing them lies with the manager. That’s what we’ve all been told and, therefore, they are his responsibility. And they’ve either not been good enough or Rodgers hasn’t been able to get the best out of them.

I’m not going to go through them all, but case in point is Paulo Bernardo. I can’t think of one memorable thing the lad has done since he signed. Don’t say he’s just a loan. Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers were just loans in the beginning. Clearly, you can source outstanding loan players.

Celtic’s Portuguese midfielder Paulo Bernardo

An inability to cover Reo Hatate’s absence has been stark, but, remember, Rodgers wasn’t having him at the start of the season. David Turnbull was picked ahead of the Japanese. Let’s not kid ourselves here. This was not a shambles he inherited.

What Ange Postecoglou inherited two years previously was a shambles and Celtic were in far-worse shape when Rodgers took over from Ronny Deila. This time around, he started from a position of strength.

Lack of quality is one thing. But Celtic were outrun, outfought and outbattled at Rugby Park. That’s not acceptable. The team has regressed and Rodgers sounds like he’s stuck.

Look at the points dropped already this season. Maybe he thought it would be easy this time round? Singling out certain players for praise tells the ones not mentioned they aren’t up to scratch, yet many are from the previous regime who responded to Postecoglou.

Rodgers has been back long enough to expect a tune out of those players. He’s signed others, yet doesn’t seem to rate them. There was a pace, a fluency and a speed under Postecoglou that’s evidently not there now. You only have to look at Kyogo Furuhashi to see the drop off. He’s gone from terrorising defenders to barely getting a kick.

His supply chain has been cut. It was bad enough Jota leaving, but losing Liel Abada and Daizen Maeda to injury hasn’t helped in that regard and I completely accept that. But the side is ponderous and lacking vibrancy. Celtic don’t strike fear into opponents now and that’s been evident for weeks.

Let’s take the Champions League out of this for a moment. Just look purely at things domestically. Rodgers won seven trophies out of seven in his first spell, yet the League Cup was lost in their first outing and that weak showing has not been a one-off. There have been too many.

Uninspiring goalless draws with St Johnstone and Hibs. An injury-time winner after a drab performance at Motherwell. Dropped points to Stuart Kettlewell’s team at home after a poor display. Killie and Hearts were dreadful. Bad signings or not, there is still enough ability in Rodgers’ squad to win those games and they flopped badly.

Bringing The Green Brigade back may help the atmosphere, but I’ve never seen them score a goal. It’s Rodgers’ role to lift it, to get the team firing, motivated and playing with passion. Not fans in a standing section.

Nobody doubts Rodgers’ coaching ability over the years. It’s clear. But this season he hasn’t got the best out of this group. My question is: Why, Brendan?

He wants and needs recruits in January, but there are four games to go before Celtic get to the mid-season shutdown and Rodgers has to make sure his team delivers. He has to get his team selections and messaging correct because, at the end of the day, the facts of football are simple.

When it comes to basic application of a team, their results and the harmony around any club, the buck usually stops with a boss. The performances haven’t been there. And it’s always the manager who carries the can for that.