Celtic Fan View: Hoops left frustrated despite equalling 100-year-old record

In the 16 months since Brendan Rodgers took charge of Celtic, the Northern Irishman has delivered success and silverware in abundance while many records have tumbled in the process. In keeping with this theme, his side added another one to the list and it was a biggie. On Saturday, they equalled Willie Maley’s 100-year record of going most domestic matches undefeated – 62 to be precise.

It’s an astonishing landmark, one that reaffirms this side’s status as one of the greatest Scottish football has ever seen. Rodgers was right to praise his men at the end of the match with Kilmarnock at Parkhead. “To achieve that over the course of 62 games – and win something like 55-56 of them – is an absolutely incredible achievement by the players and so difficult,” he said.

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He added: “It’s been 100 years, so they’ve made that jump and it’s a great testament to their work over the last 17 months. Now they get a chance next week to go out on their own, to get to 63. Whatever happens, though, they’ve got their names in the record books.”

But this historic achievement was tinged with frustration following a 1-1 draw against Killie. As a perfectionist, the former Liverpool coach was the first one to point that out. The draw also raised a wider concern which is the champions’ home form.

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For much of the afternoon Steve Clark’s team defended extremely deep with 10 men often camped in and around the edge of their own box. They denied the Hoops space in behind their backline and gave up few opportunities on the counter attack or on offensive transitions. It was difficult to break down the Ayrshire side and it proved too great a task to score that all important second goal.

The Bhoys’ performance was the opposite of that against Aberdeen in midweek where they were sharp, fluid, dominant and deadly. This was a slower display, one that lacked cohesion and authority at times. The same could be said of previous games at home to St.Johnstone, Hibs and Dundee.

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The invincibles needed late goals from Callum McGregor to save them against the Saints and Hibees as they came from behind in either game earlier in the campaign. A fortnight ago they relied on a series of stunning late saves from Dorus de Vries to secure a win against Dundee in another sluggish performance.

The source of these troubles is likely to be a mixture of Champions League exertions, a hint of complacency and Rodgers’ team selections. Over the last couple of months he’s regularly changed the defence, given game time to fringe players and youngsters, and heavily rotated the XI with European fixtures in mind. The result can sometimes be an outfit that becomes ragged at both ends of the pitch.

This subject dominated the debate on social media and radio phone-ins in the aftermath of the match. While Rodgers’ use of the squad in this manner is understandable, fans do want to see less wholesale changes. There’s no doubt that the league title will remain in Glasgow’s east end come May, but these dropped points in recent weeks shouldn’t become a habit. The Bhoys need to step a gear at Parkhead and Rodgers should loosen his grip on some of the main players who have been rested in recent times.