Clarke continues to put Rodgers in the shade in head-to-heads
STEVE Clarke was assistant manager and Brendan Rodgers a lowly youth coach when they first made each other’s acquaintance at Chelsea, and every now and then the Kilmarnock manager appears to enjoy reminding his Celtic counterpart of his seniority in their relationship.
When Stuart Findlay, a former Celtic central defender, nodded in Chris Burke’s corner in the very last act of this breathless Ladbrokes Premiership match at Rugby Park, it meant that Clarke is still yet to lose in all four of their personal match-ups, with a rare pair of back-to-back home wins for the Ayrshire side into the bargain.
So what exactly were the reasons for this turn of events?
AWAY DAY WOES
That Kilmarnock deserved the acclaim is undeniable. But this result and performance paints a picture of a season which hasn’t got started for Celtic. Considering two seasons of imperious progress in domestic football, you can pick pretty much any stat you want to sum up how things are currently mis-firing. Forget about the ill-fated Champions League campaign, Celtic’s domestic results so far are: home wins against Rangers, Livingston and Hamilton; away defeats against Hearts and Kilmarnock, and a draw away to St Mirren. Ten points from their first six league matches comprises the club’s worst start to a league campaign since the days of Dr Jozef Venglos 20 years ago. Now one point from nine on the road, it maintained an early-season average of one goal a game.
THE FEAR FACTOR
With Celtic imperious during the Northern Irishman’s first season in charge, quite often their opponents were beaten before the match started. But, if anyone seemed to betray an apprehension about what might happen yesterday, it was the Parkhead side.
If it spooked the visitors, Kilmarnock’s 1-0 win here on the artificial surface in February served as an inspiration for the home side, who once again had a perfect game-plan prepared. From Kirk Broadfoot’s well-marshalled backline (even if the defender ought to have conceded a penalty for bundling Dedryck Boyata to the ground) to the tireless graft of Eamonn Brophy up front, Kilmarnock were designed to make it difficult for Celtic to play their usual short-passing game.
MULUMBU NEEDS GAMES
The Congo internationalist scored the only goal and generally ran the show the last time Celtic visited Rugby Park, perhaps planting a seed which eventually took him to Parkhead this summer. He returned yesterday, on the occasion of his full Celtic debut, but this was hardly the homecoming he hoped for. In for the suspended Olivier Ntcham, Mulumbu should have been as comfortable as anyone on the artificial surface but the 31-year-old appeared every bit a player who hasn’t seen competitive action since May.
His class is undeniable, but on the evidence of this showing it will take a while for him to get up to speed.
PERSONNEL PROBLEMS
Things eventually got worse for the Celtic manager, but they didn’t start very well either. Having made a convincing debut for his new team in the Europa League tie against Rosenborg, Rodgers named on-loan Leicester City defender Filip Benkovic in his squad.
But those plans were out the window when the Croat felt discomfort in his Achilles tendon during the warm-up and had to be swiftly replaced by Jack Hendry. Benkovic will go in for a scan in the next few days and, with big games ahead, Rodgers will be keen that he doesn’t see an extended break. That was one of six changes the Northern Irishman made from the team which started against Rosenborg, with starts also for Mulumbu, Leigh Griffiths, Ryan Christie, Mikey Johnston and Scott Sinclair and a lively cameo from the bench after injury for Lewis Morgan. While Griffiths got an opportunist goal and Christie stung Jamie MacDonald’s palms, this was not a fluent display. The likes of Callum McGregor, James Forrest and Tom Rogic will surely come in for a tough-looking away tie in the BetFred Cup at St Johnstone on Wednesday night and will need to give their team a lift.
PREMIER PRODUCT
Ladies and gentleman, we have a league. While strength in depth will no doubt shine through, it says it all for the raised levels in the Scottish top flight that next weekend will see Celtic and Aberdeen, the nation’s top two teams for the last four seasons, locking horns at Celtic Park whilst positioned sixth and seventh in the table half a dozen matches into the campaign.
Hearts already have a six-point advantage on last season’s champions, while Kilmarnock leapfrogged Celtic yesterday on goal difference.