What Has Gone Wrong at Celtic? | OneFootball

Celtic suffered an embarrassing defeat to Kairat Almaty in Champions League qualifying, losing 3 – 2 on penalties after two nil – nil draws. If truth be told, it was a disaster which had been coming for some time.

Celtic ignored what should have been a wake up call

Imagine you have an important work meeting in the morning. Your alarm goes off and you decide to send it to sleep. The cycle continues and eventually you wake up again, but it is too late. You slept through every alarm and that meeting which you were supposed to attend is already over.

This is exactly what Celtic have done during the past few months. It looked like the club would make history by winning yet another treble. All that stood in their way was Aberdeen. The Dons had suffered a disappointing end to the season, finishing fifth in the Scottish Premiership after losing 2-1 on the final day against Dundee United.

Despite this, Aberdeen lifted the Scottish Cup just one week later and their performance up until the penalty shootout was nothing special at all. It was Celtic’s failure which led to the trophy slipping from their grasp, as Brendan Rodgers’ men were nothing short of terrible on the day.

That was the moment the Celtic board ought to have realised change was needed, and fast. The first-team squad was not good enough and new players needed bringing in with a proven track record.

Shortcomings which were not resolved

Rodgers spoke of wanting to compete in the Champions League after Celtic won the Premiership at Tannadice in April. However, the Celtic board appear to have had the complete opposite idea. If a plan involves spending money rather than generating revenue, they are completely disinterested.

Kyogo Furushashi was sold in January and while his form dropped off under Rodgers, he was still the club’s best striker. Indeed, the Japanese forward continued to start ahead of Adam Idah, who came at a cost of £9.5m ($12.9M). To this day, Celtic have yet to sign an adequate replacement who is actually good enough to start matches.

This might only be Celtic’s second biggest problem when it comes to a shortage of quality. The wing positions are what have been the largest concern. The Bhoys started their second leg tie against Kairat Almaty with James Forrest and Yang Hyun-Jun.

Forrest is able to deliver the occasional moment of brilliance and he has been a great servant to the club. However, he is 34 years old and clearly a long way off the player he used to be. Then there is Yang, who will never come close to a prime Forrest. Someone unfamiliar with who he is could be forgiven for mistaking him for a Sunday league player.

Celtic have acted too late for the Champions League

The negligence of the Celtic board cost Celtic a place in the Champions League. Then, after being knocked out, the club announced the signing of a new left winger. One or two more are also rumoured to be arriving in Glasgow before the transfer window ends. Why were these moves not completed weeks ago?

Ultimately, it is because the board will not back Rodgers because they believe he will leave at the conclusion of his contract next summer. If the manager will not commit, they will not spend. This includes replacing players who have brought in heaps of money – Nicolas Kuhn comes to mind.

However, the reason Rodgers is likely to depart is because the board have no ambition and he knows it. He has been clear that he wants Celtic to test teams outside Scotland. He even showed they could by nearly taking Bayern Munich to extra time in last season’s Champions League knockout round.

Rodgers is partly to blame

Peter Lawwell, Dermot Desmond and the Celtic hierarchy have much to answer for, but even with their failings, Rodgers has still messed up. His team have been pretty rotten in a lot of matches since the narrow defeat in Munich back in February. Slow sideways and backwards passing has been the key problem, but there has been no sign of this changing.

This is a style of football which was apparent when Rodgers first arrived for his second spell at Celtic, but it was eventually resolved. The performance against RB Leipzig last season was particularly special and it was because the passing was so fast-paced and creative. There was a desire to move forward quickly and give the opposition a reason to be afraid.

At this moment in time, Buckie Thistle FC (of the 5th division Highland Football League) might fancy their chances of keeping a clean sheet against Celtic. The Hoops are like a rider who shows up at a horserace and starts performing dressage. There is no sense or urgency on the ball and a total lack of innovation or inspiration. Therefore, Rodgers leaving next summer might not be such a bad thing.

Celtic must improve now

Celtic are just hours away from taking on Rangers in the first Glasgow derby of the season. (Editor’s note: the kickoff is 12:00pm BST / 7:00am ET). The Ibrox side are in a crisis of their own. Russell Martin has followed up his terrible tenure at Southampton with a dreadful start to life in Scotland. Rangers were embarrassed by Club Brugge and are yet to win a league game.

Despite this, Celtic’s trip to the west side of Glasgow is pretty much a 50/50 as to who will come out on top. Both teams look incompetent right now and have let their country down on the European stage.

This cannot continue and if Celtic are to not only dominate Scotland, but to go a reasonable distance in the Europa League, the board must get some last minute signings in, while Rodgers needs to pick up the pace. Otherwise, this might just end up being like the 2020/21 season all over again. Well, if you replace Rangers with Hearts or a team that can actually win matches.