Brendan Rodgers facing ‘biggest test’ at Celtic after worst league start for 20 years
Brendan Rodgers admits he is facing the biggest test of his Celtic tenure after a 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock condemned the Hoops to their worst league start for 20 years.
Defender Stuart Findlay’s dramatic injury-time header from a Chris Burke corner gave Killie a stunning victory on Sunday, after Burke’s drive had cancelled out Leigh Griffiths’ first-half opener.
The Northern Irishman has enjoyed nothing but domestic success since arriving at the Parkhead club in 2016 and his side finished last season as unprecedented double treble-winners.
But after six games the champions have only 10 points and are six points behind leaders Hearts – their poorest start since the 1998/99 campaign under Jozef Venglos.
Asked if he faced the toughest challenge of his time as Celtic boss, Rodgers – who will have defender Filip Benkovic’s Achilles problem assessed after he pulled up in the warm-up – said: “It is. It’s a challenge.
“We have to accept that. There’s no doubt we need to be better. When you’re at the biggest clubs and you don’t win the heat comes on to you.
“That’s when you show you’re a Celtic player, manager, member of staff. You come together. When you lose games the spotlight will always be on you.
“You have to work hard, do the basics right. The basics cost us this time.
“It hasn’t been great, but we have to accept that. We’re the only ones who can make it better and get more consistent results.”
Celtic have lost to Hearts and Kilmarnock, as well as drawing with St Mirren in the league and Rodgers believes his side must find ways to break down opponents.
The former Liverpool and Swansea City boss said: “The teams are playing deep. At St Mirren we saw it, even when we had 10 men. You saw Rangers come and sit deep, Kilmarnock did that too.
“It’s up to us, we have to find the answers to that. That’s the job. We have to analyse the game and build the mentality again to win the next game.
“I’d have been disappointed to draw, but to lose is bitterly disappointing. It was a scrappy sort of game, but I still feel we had the better moments and more control.”
Kilmarnock have now gone four games without defeat to Celtic and manager Steve Clarke praised former Parkhead youth player Findlay for playing through the pain barrier.
He said: “I was pleased for Stuart Findlay. He didn’t train all week, but he put his body on the line. He was struggling at half-time but those are some of the rewards the footballing gods give you.
“Stuart had a bang on the knee and it was sore through the week. He got another bang in the first half but we’ve got good character in the squad.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
