Celtic’s 0-0 draw with Hibs on Sunday was, probably, the poorest performance under Brendan Rodgers this season.
The Hoops seemed to huff and puff against the Edinburgh side and after their exertions against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night, that is understandable.
However, that didn’t stop Pat Bonner from highlighting four players that he believes should have done better against the Leith club.
Bonner said [BBC Sportsound], “It was certainly hangover from Wednesday night. The energy levels were down and there were too many players like Palma, Kyogo and Maeda that didn’t perform.
“Bernardo didn’t really do too much in the game to suggest that he would be in the team even though Hatate was injured.
“They missed him [Reo Hatate who is injured], of course. I think that Mikey Johnston and James Forrest, come on and gave them that energy near the end.
“But it was all too late, they just couldn’t hit the target.”
The whole Celtic team was poor against Hibs
Whilst I agree with the crux of Pat Bonner’s point, the whole Celtic team just didn’t perform against Hibs on Saturday.
Look at the stats [Sky Sports]. Despite having over 71% possession and 21 shots on goal, Celtic only managed to get four of those shots on target.
Only two clear-cut chances were created and one of those hit the bar when James Forrest smashed his 86th-minute volley goalbound.
Celtic only completed 46.7% of their attempted tackles and won just 50% of their aerial duels against Hibs.
The performance from the team as a whole was poor and needs to improve come Wednesday night when St Mirren comes to visit.
Brendan Rodgers must ensure that Celtic take all three points after Rangers closed the gap yesterday afternoon in their 2-1 win over Hearts at Ibrox.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers would have never allowed ‘powerful’ Celtic man Ange Postecoglou sold to leave the club