Bren is losing it over obsession to be Invincible
With all the physical stature of a jockey’s whip, young Jack Aitchison pulled up a chair and spoke of his chances of playing for Celtic.
The season’s all but done and dusted domestically and he talked in bittersweet terms of the Invincibles tag currently doing the rounds at his club.
Aitchison acknowledged his boss Brendan Rodgers has the blinkers on in pursuit of a season of unbeaten perfection. The kid didn’t say it but a defeat would do his hopes the world of good.
Forgive the Cheltenham talk but Celtic are being flogged to exhaustion in a bid to create mod er n - d a y history by not losing a domestic match and it’s time to ease up.
Invincibles? It really doesn’ t mat ter, in all honesty, it was always going to be a one- horse race for the title.
Rodgers should tell Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele, Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, Scott Brown and Mikael Lustig they’ve run their race this term – with the exception of two more games.
The next hurdle in their bid for the Treble is next month’s Scottish Cup semi- f inal against Rangers and if that is negotiated then it’s all down to Hampden in May.
For all the praise thrown Rodgers’ way for his stunning transformation of a team which is unrecognisable from Ronny Deila’s reign there are st i ll some signs of a managerial naivety.
A coach with no track record of lifting trophies is asking the same players to produce for him time after time. With the exception of this season’s League Cup, the Irishman has never been in the winner’s enclosure and he’s learning on the job what it takes to guide a team over the line.
Mistakes are being made. Last weekend’s draw with Rangers had the look of weariness written all over it and by all accounts Celtic’s training is still being done at full pelt.
That’s why it would be wise to tell Sinclair and company to take a back seat and give the likes of Aitchison and other academy kids a run in the league games.
The bravery to blood youngsters into first- team action is a balancing act which also needs to be a part of the managerial armoury.
Celtic have the chance to give their main men a breather for not just the challenges ahead this term but with one eye on the start of next season.
The Champions League qualifiers are fast appearing on the horizon and the Invincibles tag could easily become the Also-Rans.
There are still signs of managerial naivety from Rodgers ... mistakes are being made