With their spirited victory over Motherwell on Sunday, Celtic maintained pressure on Rangers to win the SPFL this weekend.
However, if Brendan Rodgers hadn’t made the adjustments he did in the second half—which, to be fair, served as inspiration for the comeback—it may have been a very different tale.
The Celtic manager’s decision to bring in Adam Idah was a brilliant coaching move, as seen by the player’s important double.
The Honduran also found the scoresheet with the arrival of Luis Palma, but it was Tomoki Iwata’s substitution in the 77th minute that truly seemed to annoy the Celtic supporters. And they sure as hell made Rodgers aware of it.
Brendan Rodgers responds to the jeers from Celtics fans
When the Celtic manager discussed the fans’ response, he appeared to be genuinely perplexed. In response to a question on how crucial it will be to use his entire roster for the championship run-in, Rodgers used the occasion to criticize the jeering Celtic fans.
“It’s very important [using the squad], especially when you get booed for taking off a defender and putting on an attacker,” Aaron Rodgers stated on Celtic YouTube. That appears peculiar.
It doesn’t really matter to me, personally. It’s more for the team and the player who is about to enter. It seems like a negative response, which I find difficult to comprehend.
“In the game, you take one aggressive player and one defensive midfield man off each other. You get jeered if you’re an offensive player who has scored goals this season.
“It just seems a little strange, but thankfully, the player’s mentality on the pitch was superb they kept going and kept fighting and all the great work that they did, especially in the second half in terms of tiring the opponent out, that led to the couple of goals at the end.”
I said yesterday I could understand the Celtic fans’ reaction. I also said I understood why Rodgers took Iwata off.
Considering he was not match-fit, the Celtic manager obviously thought he was tiring and took the opportunity to bring on another attacking player to win the game.
And, again, to be fair to Rodgers, it paid off. The player who replaced Iwata, Paulo Bernardo, didn’t really contribute that much. In fact, he only had nine touches but did fashion one chance. [Fotmob]
But as we all know, it’s a team game and the end result was down to the fact that Rodgers used his whole squad. And if he needs to do it again tonight, then the Celtic fans will need to trust the process.
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