Craig Gordon has revealed that some harsh words were exchanged in the Celtic dressing room after the 1-0 defeat from Anderlecht.
Brendan Rodgers is rarely critical of his players but after losing to the Belgian side he stated that he had some players well short of Champions League levels.
Although Celtic did progress into the Europa League there was a feeling of anti-climax that they hadn’t built on the 3-0 win that they enjoyed in Brussels.
???? CG on what Brendan Rodgers had to say to the players about the Anderlecht performance: “He spoke in the changing room afterwards and he wasn’t particularly happy with aspects of the performance.”
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) December 8, 2017
???? CG: “We set out at the start of the group to try and qualify and get European football after Christmas which we did do. We did go into the group as fourth seeds and finished third.”
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) December 8, 2017
???? CG: “I think perhaps a little bit was read into the final result. It was like a two-legged tie and we had to do the job. We were already 3-0 up if you like from the first leg, and the situation was we had to get the job done.”
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) December 8, 2017
???? CG: “Even though we were a goal down in the second half, we didn’t go chasing the game like we would have done if it had been the first game of the group.”
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) December 8, 2017
Despite the disappointment of the defeat the Celtic squad will be tuned in to Monday’s Europa League draw with the round of 32 ties played on February 15 and 22.
Before they get to consider those matches Celtic have seven domestic matches to get through before they can enjoy a three week winter break.
On Sunday the hoops resume their bid to win the SPFL title when they travel to Easter Road to take on Neil Lennon’s Hibs who drew 2-2 earlier in the season at Celtic Park.