CELTIC boss Brendan Rodgers was far from happy with his players as they lost their fourth league match of the season against SPFL basement boys St Johnstone.
The Hoops boss accused his players of complacency as they conceded an early goal to the Perth side’s defender Daniels Balodis.
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Rodgers walked the McDiarmid Park pitch for the best part of ten minutes after the game
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He chatted with the St Johnstone groundman after the match
Withdrawing Nicolas Kuhn and Jeffrey Schlupp at half time, Rodgers had used all five subs with fully 15 minutes remaining as the Hoops finally got a response.
But they found Saints’ keeper Andy Fisher in inspired form as he saved well from Luke McCowan and James Forrest in particular.
And having spoken of his anger in his post-match media, our pictures show him in contemplative mood as he wandered the McDiarmid Park pitch for up to ten minutes.
He was spotted taking a lengthy phonecall – after chatting with St Johnstone‘s groundsman.
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A penny for his thoughts would be interesting after a defeat which leaves the Hoops two wins away from retaining their Premiership title.
They COULD still be champions next weekend, but only if Aberdeen can do them a favour on the Sunday after they have first taken care of business against Kilmarnock in the Saturday lunchtime kick off.
Rodgers admitted that the inquest into today’s defeat would include his own contribution – but it was hard to avoid the conclusion that certain players won’t be featuring for the club too much longer.
He said: “There’s definitely anger. I’m trying to control it.
“Poor start to the game, not the first time.
“The start was really poor, it was soft, it was too comfortable in the game.
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“This is something that we will look at, certainly in the summer.
“It’s mentality.
“It’s a group that has mental strength but I’ve been in teams, especially up here, where you just power your way through the season, right to the very end.
“There’s maybe a few that are comfortable.
“When you’re comfortable, you become a bit timid, you lose duels and you lose the fight.
“You can never be that if you want to be a top player. So collectively, that’s the annoyance.
“It’s easily done, you can go into the game and look for an easy game, top against bottom.
“But the very best players are right on it from minute one.
“And I’m not talking about boys like Callum McGregor, who deals with expectation, who deals with being the underdog in the Champions League and guys like that.
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“But there’s absolutely no doubt, around some of our starts, we have some players going in looking for an easy game.
“That’s what we need to look at.”
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