Brendan Rodgers – Celtic were timid, lacked desire and lacked ambition to win | OneFootball

Brendan Rodgers spoke to the media after Celtic suffered a surprising 1-0 defeat at the hands of St Johnstone in Perth yesterday afternoon. The Hoops remain 13 points clear but are limping towards their title triumph and ruined what could have been a very special day for the Celtic support this coming Saturday…

Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, McDiarmid Park, Perth, 06 April 2025. Photo Stuart Wallace/IMAGO Shutterstock

Q: What are your thoughts on today’s game Brendan?

Brendan Rodgers: “I want to firstly give huge credit to St Johnstone. Sometimes that can get bypassed in the result, in our performance, but I thought for them, they fought for every ball from the first whistle. They get the goal and then they defend for their lives in the second half. So, it’s a huge credit to them and congratulations to them. For us, poor start to the game, but not the first time. This is something for me that we will look at, certainly in the summer.

“But the start was really poor, it was soft, and it was too comfortable in the game. We go behind and then obviously we are much better in the second half. They make some great saves, they make some great blocks, some of it is per finishing from ourselves. But overall, we disappointed today. We got three stands in the stadium full of our own supporters, expectant and that’s what you have to deal with as a Celtic player. We didn’t deal with that at all.”

READ THIS…St Johnstone 1-0 Celtic – Dear oh Dear. No excuses today

Daniels Balodis of St Johnstone celebrates with team mates after scoring to give St Johnstone a 1-0 lead. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, l, McDiarmid Park, Perth, 06 April 2025: Photo Stuart Wallace/IMAGO Shutterstock

Q: When you say you look at the slow starts in the summer, just straight after the game, what are your thoughts on that?

Brendan Rodgers: “It’s mentality. It’s a group that has mental strength. But I’ve been in teams, especially up here, where you just power your way through the season, right to the very end. And there’s maybe a few that are comfortable. And comfort is not a physical place. When you’re comfortable, you become a bit timid, and you lose duels, and you lose the fight. And you can never be that. And you can never be that if you want to be a top player. So collectively, that’s the annoyance.

“It’s easily done. You can go into the game and look for an easy game, top to bottom. But the very best players are right on it from minute one. And I’m not talking here about boys like Callum McGregor, who deals with expectation, who deals with being the underdog in the Champions League and guys like that. But there’s absolutely no doubt, around some of our starts, we have some players going in looking for an easy game. And that’s what we need to look at.”

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Celtic goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo after Daniels Balodis of St Johnstone scored to give St Johnstone a 1-0 lead. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, , McDiarmid Park, Perth, 06 April 2025: Photo Stuart Wallace/IMAGO Shutterstock

Q: Is it a consequence of being so far ahead?

Brendan Rodgers: “It can’t be. I cannot use that as an excuse. I can’t use that as an excuse and maybe thought, when we lost the game there on 2nd January, okay, 16 points, I can look at that or whatever it was. But no, it’s happened too many times. So, like I say, there’s a fantastic group of players, good guys, who this year in the main have been very, very good. But I don’t like when I see this here. And for me, it’s just happened too many times.”

Daizen Maeda of Celtic St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, , McDiarmid Park, Perth, 06 April 2025. Photo Stuart Wallace/IMAGO Shutterstock

Q: I remember you saying one time up here, Brendan, you were as angry as you’ve ever been, and you won 3-1 that day. I’m not sensing anger today, but…

Brendan Rodgers: “There’s definitely anger. I’m trying to control it. I look at my own self first and foremost. I’m proud of my career and how I teach players and how I inspire them and how I motivate them. The first look, I look at myself. Am I doing the very best job I possibly can to inspire these and motivate these to get over the line? So that’s my first look.

“But I just think there’s a comfort there I don’t like, and it doesn’t matter if you’re 13 points or 3 points. It’s not enough. We have to be much better than what we were in our ambition in the game.”

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Q: The quality you’re talking about, is that something you can instil into players, or does it have to come from within to have that drive to keep going even though you’re so far ahead?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, it comes from within. It comes from within. My experience in managing many, many games and that’s why the top players, like I say, like Callum and James Forrest and these guys, they never look for an easy game. Ever. Their ambition or whatever level they’re playing for this club, they go into the game and it’s not an easy game they’re looking for.

“They know the expectation and they know the desire. So that there, ambition and desire, come from within. But like I say, I have to look at myself with it as well and really analyse, am I giving them that bit that’s needed at this point?”

Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers in technical area at McDiarmid Park. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, 06 April 2025. Photo Stuart Wallace IMAGO/Shutterstock

“As I said, my intention always when I was here and come to the point is to sprint over the line and I’ve done that before and I know what it looks like, but I don’t like that side of it in this team because for Celtic, it’s winning the best way you possibly can. Not just chugging your way over the line. So, we have no excuse.

“We have no excuse. It’s not about tiredness. It’s not about the pitch. St Johnstone have done great. They deserve a huge amount of credit. My concern is for Celtic and for the ambition of the team and the mentality and the progress of the team. These are interesting games for me to analyse.”

Q: Is there a wee concern about the form of some of the players at the moment? Is that also taken away from the mentality? Is it just form in general?

Brendan Rodgers: “I think that is part of it. We have players that are not used to playing so many games and I think you see a bit of tiredness, a bit of fatigue setting in but that’s all part of being a Celtic player. You’ve got to go deep in competitions. You’ve got to have an expectation on you. Very few times you’re going to be the underdog. It’s easy being the underdog but at Celtic there’s expectation there.

“For some after a long season it can be tiring but you have to deal with that. But you’re not tired after 5-10 minutes of a game. So, when you’re out there and it’s happened to the way it has, it’s happened here, it’s happened at theRangers, it’s happened at a few times, there’s no tiredness there. That’s mentality. So that’s something that I need to fix.”

Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers applauds the Celtic fans at full-time. Final score St Johnstone 1 Celtic 0. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, McDiarmid Park, Perth, – 06 April 2025 Photo Stuart Wallace IMAGO/Shutterstock

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Q: Is it dangerous? The title is such a strong position but there’s also a Scottish Cup to win as well. It sounds like that mentality is dangerous at this stage when there’s still work to be done.

Brendan Rodgers: “I don’t threaten the players. The players have been brilliant for me this season and like I said I don’t like us to just get over the line. They’ve been brilliant but this here side of it I don’t like. We haven’t won the league yet. Yes, we’re 13 points clear, we’ve got six games to go but there’s still a lot of work to do.

“My feeling is, and this is what I said before the game, top teams, they have talent, they have a system, and they have a spirit and an ambition to win. The third one has been a wee bit ropey for us. We clearly have talent; we have a system and structure you see in the second half and other games where it works really well. But before any of that there has to be a desire and a mentality. A couple of times just a little bit timid and that’s one of the big pitfalls to succeed for me. You just can’t be timid.”

Conor Spence

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