BREN: BE ALARMED
Celtic gaffer admits the heat is on after worst league start in 20 years
BRENDAN RODGERS yesterday admitted Celtic supporters should be alarmed after the champions slumped to their worst league start in 20 years.
Celtic were sunk by Stuart Findlay’s last-gasp winner at Kilmarnock to leave the Parkhead men with just 10 points from the first six games – their
poorest opening to a campaign since doomed Dr Jo Venglos was in charge in 1998.
Leigh Griffiths fired a much-changed Celts ahead but Chris Burke levelled before the late drama.
Celtic have dropped eight points already – the same amount they spilled in the entire Invincible season.
Rodgers has breezed through two seasons in Glasgow but admitted he is facing his toughest spell.
When asked if the Hoops faithful should be alarmed, the gaffer said: “Yes I think they should. It’s a challenge. We have to accept that.
“There’s no doubt we need to be better. When you’re at the biggest clubs and you don’t win the heat comes on to you.
“That’s when you show you’re a Celtic player, manager, member of staff. You come together. When you lose games the spotlight will always be on you. You need to do the basics right. The basics cost us this time.”
Rodgers, however, insisted he is not panicking at the league table.
He said: “Not at this point. We look at it after 10 games. We never get too carried away when winning and we won’t get carried away when we’re in the position we are.
“There’s no doubt we have to be better. It hasn’t been great but we we’re the only ones who can make it better and get more consistent results.”
Celtic racked up five clean sheets on the spin before Rugby Park but Rodgers said his side were sunk by dodgy defending.
He said: “I’d have been disappointed to draw but to lose is bitterly disappointing. It was a scrappy game but I still feel we had the better moments and more control. Two basic situations cost us. I’m so disappointed.”
Rodgers made wholesale changes to his side from the Europa League win against Rosenborg but the stand-ins couldn’t rise to the occasion.
He said: “I take the responsibility for that. You make the changes to try to bring that energy and brightness which might not be there if you’ve played Thursday. But it was still difficult. Kilmarnock will always be deep and in their blocks set so you’ve got to be able to run beyond them and get behind.
“We mixed our game up well but it’s never going to be a good game on that surface and we wanted to find ways to win.
“I’ve been there when we’ve scored enough late goals and it’s always sore when you lose it late but we’ve got no one to blame but ourselves.”
Rodgers was forced to rip up his teamsheet after Filip Benkovic was injured in the warm-up and the Leicester loanee is facing a sweat for Wednesday’s Betfred Cup clash with St Johnstone.
He said: “He had an issue with his Achilles eight months ago. On the surface he felt it tighten so he wasn’t fit to play. Hopefully it’s not too bad.”
Killie boss Clarke is undefeated in four games against Rodgers’s Celtic.
The Rugby Park gaffer insisted his men have no fear and hailed goal hero Findlay for fighting through the pain barrier to win it.
Clarke said: “We spoke at half-time about believing. We’ve shown we can compete with the big teams. Second half we competed well and deserved to get back in.
“It’s never easy chasing a game against a team like Celtic because of counter-attacks but we handled that well.
“It was a good delivery and I was pleased for Stuart. He didn’t train all week but put his body on the line.
“He was struggling at half-time but those are the rewards the footballing gods give you.”