'Rodgers is poking, being antagonistic,' reckons Sutton

And the Celtic manager, who had adopted motoring references after the Dens Park defeat last weekend – comparing his side to a Honda Civic rather the the Ferrari of last season – returned to this theme after the much needed Europa League victory, upgrading his side to a Range Rover Sport, still not quite at the Ferrari level, but certainly getting there.

And in his newspaper column this morning, the former Celtic striker Chris Sutton reckons that the Celtic manager’s antagonism is very much directed at folk in the Celtic boardroom – who have failed to back him in the two transfer windows this year – rather then the players in the dressing room.

“It feels to me like an unhappy stalemate, so I think Rodgers is poking, being antagonistic. The obvious question then becomes: Is he entitled to be? My answer to that would be unequivocally yes, Sutton said in his weekly Daily Record column this morning.

“He constantly pointed out the needs and little was delivered. Match of the Day interviews on the BBC last weekend. Why did that come about? Seemed like odd timing.

“Rodgers said during the week he has never been more motivated at Celtic, yet that came days after his Honda Civic statements at Dens Park. Those words on Tayside sounded more to me like a frustrated manager who is poking, provoking and is at the end of his tether.

“I can accept he may not have gone about one or two things in just the right way, but, like I say, who can blame him? Victory over Sturm Graz was a small step in the right direction but, in the big picture, it’s not even close to solving issues.

“My gut feeling on Brendan is that he’s severely hacked off. The Honda line came on the back of that performance at Dundee that had his coaching ability questioned. He subsequently said it was about being harsh and getting a response from the squad. It felt to me like another reminder of the mess the board has made of things.

“At a time when everything has kicked off, Rodgers understands the consequences of what he says, everyone hanging on every word. It might have made some of the players feel bad or have a look at themselves but when you strip everything back, what he says is 100 percent true.

“Celtic lost players, didn’t replace them and the team has been downgraded. That’s a fact. That is the source of everything this season. The bad feeling with fans protests, the poor performances, the comments which have come out.

“You can say what you like about the rest but it boils down to abysmal recruitment. End of. Get that right and these issues don’t arise. No disrespect to the boys themselves but Rodgers could start tomorrow’s top-of-the-table game against Hearts using Colby Donovan at right-back and Johnny Kenny as central striker. Injuries happen and the manager has been left dreadfully short,” Sutton said.

While Rodgers also has Anthony Ralston as the squad’s back-up right back – and remember he is a Scotland international – he has no other viable alternative than Johnny Kenny at centre forward. Aside from the Irish striker, Rodgers has Shin Yamada and Callum Osmand, a boy who hadn’t played a senior game ahead of joining Celtic as a ‘club signing’ in the summer, to choose from.

Hopefully Johnny Kenny can stand up and hold the fort until January when it’s a third time lucky chance for Michael Nicholson to sign a replacement for Kyogo.

As for Brendan Rodgers, he is starting to relish the challenged of making a success out of the weakened hand he’s been given this season.

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