‘Rattled’ Celtic are taking it from all angles after a rare show of weakness against Dundee left Brendan Rodgers raging.
And Auston Trusty’s Dens Park horror show was so bad it even had Kris Boyd wound up. Celtic lead early on through Luke McCowan but saw the game flipped on its head and needed a late Arne Engels penalty to seal a 3-3 draw in Tayside. Dundee had them on the ropes, with Trusty in particular struggling to handle Simon Murray before losing out to Aaron Donnelly for the home side’s third.
The Hoops had the last laugh in the end and were puffing their cheeks when Mohamad Sylla handled in the box, giving Engels the chance to secure a share of the points in stoppage time. But while there was relief, the post-match tone was one of fury from Rodgers, who blamed £7m Trusty in particular for his ‘soft’ defending.
Neil Lennon also saw it that way as he said: “I’ve not seen the centre halves at Celtic this season, in a domestic game, as rattled as they were tonight, particularly in the second half.
“He should do better (at the third goal), of course he should. You’ve got outjumped by a guy who’s smaller than you and he’s outmuscled you. It’s a great delivery, but it’s a fantastic header. He’s under a lot of pressure from Trusty but he gets up early and buries it.
“I have to look at Trusty there again and he’s got to be stronger in that position and it could have cost Celtic all three points. Luckily for them, it didn’t, but there’s work to do with the two centre halves on that performance.”
Rangers hero Boyd agreed with that assessment as he also singled out the American for criticism – and believes that position is a big problem for the Hoops ahead of a huge Champions League double header with Young Boys and Aston Villa. He said on Sky Sports: “Celtic have big problems on the left hand side of defence. I know he was disappointed with Trusty’s defending. You go back to the cup final, he takes Trusty off and Scales comes on, then Scales was really poor in the last Old Firm. Celtic are way ahead in the league, and sometimes complacency can set in. But Brendan Rodgers will know they need to turn up for these two Champions League games.
“They’re huge for the football club. That left hand side of defence is an issue. You see Trusty just before Donnelly’s goal. We spoke about him getting beat for the header, he’s stood on his toe and he’s rolling about grabbing his toe. You’ve got to be a centre-back and stand up for it.”
Rodgers’ post-match rant caught James McFadden‘s eye as the former Scotland striker said: “Rodgers is speaking about being passive and not aggressive enough. He’s putting it on Simon Murray on Trusty for the second goal, and Trusty on Donnelly for the third goal. He’s putting it on everyone, but he’s letting Trusty know that’s not acceptable.”
And Hoops hero Chris Sutton was keen to give Dundee their flowers as he posted on X: “Dundee as gutsy as they come. Well played Tony Doherty and his team. Celtic, too many players off the boil and after Dundee went 3-2 up never really looked like equalising. Maybe a valuable point at the end of the season. Fair play to Engels with a cool penalty. Great match.”