A number of Celtic supporters have turned to social media to slaughter Brendan Rodgers’ decision to name Mikael Lustig captain for the club’s clash against St Johnstone on Sunday afternoon.
The Hoops return to league action from their Europa League defeat to RB Salzburg in midweek, and the Northern Irish boss chose to make two changes from the starting XI beaten in Austria, as confirmed on the club’s official Twitter account.
? The team news is in for #STJCEL.
Come on the Hoops! ? pic.twitter.com/PAFgqoukep
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) October 7, 2018
Youssouf Mulumbu and Jack Hendry drop out the side for Tom Rogic and Filip Benkovic, as the Bhoys look to close the gap to table toppers Hearts, who started the day six points ahead of Rodgers and his men as the league leaders take on Rangers at Ibrox.
Despite the changes, it was the decision to name Lustig captain which had many of the Celtic fans fuming on Twitter.
This is Futbol has gathered a selection of the supporters’ tweets:
Lustig captain pic.twitter.com/8nhgId4rSA
— Martino (@martino67_) October 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/19jhodgkiss/status/1048927228430639109
Lustig – an absolute waste of a jersey these day…quick, let's make him captain.
Mulumbu – the one player to get pass marks from Thursday night…quick, let's bench him.
The banter years are truly upon us!
— QuickBen67 (@QuickBen67) October 7, 2018
Mcgregor,ntcham n lustig should have been dropped for today,lets hope they prove me wrong.gamboa cant even get on the bench,strange
— logan1888 (@Jlogan1888) October 7, 2018
Imagine actually being told what to do from Lustig ?
— Adam Lynch ?? (@AdamLynch27) October 7, 2018
Lustig captain!? He shouldnt even be on the training ground ffs
— JM???? (@redoctoberirp) October 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/JimKerr23/status/1048926620084592646
https://twitter.com/StevenFairlie/status/1048926622034944002
Gtf with this Lustig pish! He’s done. Get Mulumbu in that 11 pronto. Shambles
— Kolo (@kev14cfc) October 7, 2018
Opinion
After what was quite frankly a disappointing display in Austria, everyone at Celtic, from the players to the backroom staff and the Parkhead fans, knows that they need to rebuild their confidence against St Johnstone or have an international break where doubts will continue to build. However, it seems that the move from Rodgers to hand Lustig the armband is doing nothing for the fanbase when it comes to their belief, and it just goes to show that things really are unsettled behind the scenes. Kieran Tierney was given the role of captain on Thursday evening with Scott Brown out, but has seen it snatched away from him and handed to his defensive counterpart instead, even though there are more experienced options in the starting XI. It is a strange decision and one which evidently is not a popular one with the Hoops’ supporters – understandable when you look at how he has performed of late.