Celtic’s Defensive Frailties Exposed in Rangers Loss
Celtic’s 3-2 loss to Rangers in the Glasgow derby has raised concerns about the team’s defensive vulnerabilities. Former Ibrox attacker Gordon Dalziel criticized Celtic’s defensive display, saying they were “all over the place” and “looked slack defensively.”
Dalziel’s comments came after Celtic conceded three goals, including a late winner from Hamza Igamane. The defeat marked Celtic’s second consecutive loss to Rangers, and Dalziel believes that Brendan Rodgers’ side has work to do to address their defensive issues.
“They were all over the place, Celtic, defensively,” Dalziel said on Clyde Superscoreboard. “If you’re Brendan Rodgers looking at set-plays, you’re not expecting the first goal Nico Raskin to get in. Throughout the game, the casual, the mistakes, the one Schmeichel gave to Cerny who should’ve put the ball in the net… they just looked slack defensively, for me. They weren’t at it.”
Despite Celtic’s defensive struggles, Dalziel acknowledged that they were the team most likely to win the clash after clawing back a 2-0 deficit to level the score at 2-2. However, Igamane’s late winner for Rangers exposed Celtic’s defensive frailties once again.
“If you analyse it all Rangers certainly had the better of the first-half,” Dalziel continued. “Thought Celtic – and it will always happen because Brendan Rodgers obviously went in an angry man not happy with what he was watching – got right back into it early in the second-half. Celtic are gonna dominate play, they had that spell. I just thought there was always gonna be a winner. Now, if you were watching the game, with the possession facts, at home, Celtic have got back into it, you’d probably say it favours Celtic to win the game.
“It would’ve been a great result and Celtic fans would’ve been on here lording it up, but it took a real good strike from Igamane.”
Leave a Reply