When You Have A Love For Celtic, You Know Every Game Is Important As A Player And Manager

SELDOM has Brendan Rodgers expressed disappointment at his team’s performance in his 20 months in charge of Celtic, but last weekend’s reversal away to Hibernian was one of those few occasions when he could find fault with his players.

- Mark Henderson

The Hoops could have wrapped up the title with a win at Easter Road but those celebrations were put on hold after the fired-up hosts prevailed 2-1 to boost their prospects of claiming second spot in the Scottish Premiership.

While the champions had their moments in an entertaining contest, creating several excellent chances along with Odsonne Edouard’s late consolation goal, Neil Lennon’s men were rewarded for the intensity and purpose of their performance.

The manager had no complaints with the final outcome when he caught up with the Celtic View, praising the Edinburgh outfit for their display and acknowledging his charges had not reached their normal high standards.

“I thought the best team won,” he said. “I thought Hibs were better than us on the day. They started very well and had good intensity. We were too slow with the ball and, importantly for me, we didn’t defend well enough and weren’t aggressive enough. That was the disappointment so that’s the simple story of the game.

“You saw in the game that they wanted to ensure we weren’t going to come here and have a big celebration in their stadium and you could see that intent in their game. They played well and we just didn’t cope.

“In terms of that defensive side, they were brighter than us in getting into the tackle and that’s not very often we say that. We didn’t play quick enough and play out of their pressure well enough, and we gave away two poor goals really.

“We had a chance to win it on Saturday. That was always our intent but it didn’t happen. However it comes you accept it but, of course, you just want to get the job complete and that’s key for us.