Brendan Rodgers must accept his part in abject performance

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The Celtic Star

·25 May 2025

Brendan Rodgers must accept his part in abject performance

Yesterday Celtic headed into the Scottish Cup Final as huge favourites against an Aberdeen side we have dominated over the last few games…

Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

And even with the fact a lot of shocks have been pulled in recent cup finals across Europe it was hard to see how the Dons would find a way to win this one, but that’s exactly what they did after defeating Celtic in a tense penalty shoot out.

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Since Alistair Johnston missed Celtic’s 5th penalty to hand Aberdeen the cup I have heard and read a lot of strong opinions across the vast spectrum of Celtic fans. Some have gone off the deep end in calling for Rodgers to go while others have the ‘ah well we can’t win them all’ attitude. Personally I was furious post game about the result. I’m a fan who appreciates every trophy we win and know we are going through the most dominant period in our history but I never take anything for granted.

The reason I was so angry

Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

The reason I was so angry wasn’t that we lost our chance to claim yet another treble, it’s how we lost it. As I mentioned earlier we have completely embarrassed Aberdeen the last couple of times we played them. They haven’t been in great form lately, disappointingly ending an up and down season in fifth place. Let’s all be honest here. If the Celtic who have been imperious domestically this season had of turned up yesterday we would have claimed the treble at a canter. Instead we witnessed a team who looked like they were playing an end of the season dead rubber, not a Scottish cup final. We deserve what we got.

Aberdeen were atrocious for most of the game yesterday

Kasper Schmeichel of Celtic concedes an own goal leading to the first goal for Aberdeen during the Scottish Cup Final match between Aberdeen and Celtic at Hampden Park on May 24, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Aberdeen were atrocious for most of the game yesterday. They turned up with a game plan to sit deep and stifle Celtic and try and hit us on the counter. The thing is, as Michael Stewart correctly said a few times during the game, they had absolutely no threat going forward. You genuinely never felt like they could score in 90 minutes. The problem was we weren’t much better. We were pedestrian. None of the players looked like they were playing for a treble they had worked so hard for all season. It was like a carbon copy of the performance against St Mirren, which of course WAS a dead rubber.

You could see Brendan Rodgers frustration on the sideline

Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

During the match you could see Brendan Rodgers frustration on the sideline. He was far from impressed by the output from his players but when it comes down to it he was the man that went with the same starting eleven that had underperformed the week before. I knew he would, even though it was clear to see that a lot of these players, who have been excellent all season may I add, haven’t looked as hungry over the past month or so.

I’m a fan of Rodgers but I have to say the one thing that does frustrate me is his stubbornness when it comes to picking his favourites when others may be more deserving.

It was an absolute howler

Kasper Schmeichel of Celtic concedes an own goal leading to the first goal for Aberdeen during the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Final match between Aberdeen and Celtic at Hampden Park on May 24, 2025 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

I’m usually not one for criticising our players but Aberdeen looked like they could play for another two days without scoring until Kasper Schmeichel made one of the worst errors I’ve seen from a Celtic goalkeeper in a very long time. It was an absolute howler. Kasper has at times been outstanding this season so no one should hold it against him but was Rodgers right to rush him back into the starting eleven when his replacement Viljami Sinisalo had performed so admirably in his absence?

I don’t think he should have, and it’s not just due to Kasper’s error yesterday. If the club genuinely believe Viljami is our future Number One then surely exposing him to the pressure of an important cup final is exactly the type of situation you want him to experience? Let him finish the season out while giving Kasper the time to not only fully recover from his injury but also the negativity he has been dealing with back in his homeland and have him return fresh and rejuvenated ready for next season.

Poor substitutions from the manager

Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Yesterday also showed that some of our players still lack that ability to change a game when things aren’t going as planned. The one person you think of who has that ability would probably be Reo Hatate, who of course was missing due to injury. Arne Engles was pretty ineffective yesterday although again I was surprised to see him hooked before Paulo Bernardo who has barely featured lately, yet ended up playing 100 mins. He had become sloppy on the ball long before this and leaving him on so long was a strange decision by our manager.

Yesterday will always feel like a huge opportunity missed

Photo: Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Trebles are incredibly hard things to win and the fact we have won so many recently should be a source of great pride but ultimately yesterday will always feel like a huge opportunity missed. If the opposition had of been the better team I would have accepted defeat much easier but the fact that they were there for the taking will rankle me for some time to come. All in all it was still a fantastic season and the players and manager have done extremely well over the course and deserve our appreciation for their efforts. It’s just both frustrating and disappointing that they couldn’t end it on a high.

One last note for the lurkers

One last note for the lurkers. I’m embarrassed for theRangers fans celebrating yesterday like they had actually won something. Being overjoyed with the fact that your most hated rivals ‘only’ won a double shows how irrelevant your latest club has become.

Conall McGinty

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