Celtic fans love nothing more than a late win and against Motherwell, that’s exactly what they got.
Brendan Rodgers watched his Celtic side surrender a 1-0 lead looking comfortable only to see two examples of poor defending help put Motherwell 2-1 up just after the break.
However, Benjamin Nygren and Daizen Maeda saved the day as Celtic battled back to beat Motherwell and grab three precious SPFL points.
But it wasn’t Celtic’s defending that concerned Hoops hero Pat Bonner as he spotted something unusual about how Rodgers’ team played on the day.
Credit: Ian MacNicol/Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty ImagesBonner couldn’t believe how poor Celtic’s passing was vs Motherwell
The former Celtic goalkeeper was clearly delighted with the late win but expressed concern at some of the passing he witnessed from Brendan Rodgers’ side.
Bonner told The Scottish Football Podcast, “From Celtic’s point of view, listen, they worked hard.
“We’ve been used to watching Celtic and their passing average has been very high and very successful. They’ll continue to pass the ball, but today the passing was very much off.
“They kept giving the ball away, not just one player, a number of players. I was shocked by some of the passes that they were actually passing.
“Trying to pass it, but their accuracy was so far out at times, and the whole game then just falls down on them.”
BBC match stats confirm Pat Bonner’s Celtic worry
Normally, Celtic’s passing helps them control most matches which then lead on to a comfortable win.
But looking at the stats on the BBC website, Bonner was right to be worried:
- Total passes: 587
- Pass accuracy: 87.2%
- Backward passes: 83
- Forward passes: 183
- Total long balls: 42
- Successful final third passes: 168
Celtic’s passing accuracy is usually always in the mid-90% mark so there is clearly a lot of stray passes and mistakes being made.
That was also evident in Celtic’s defeat to SC Braga in the Europa League. Hopefully, Rodgers has recognised this and will take steps to rectify before the league resumes against Dundee a week on Sunday.