Rangers’ former director of football Gordon Smith has blasted four senior Celtic players for failing to perform in the 2-0 defeat to Valencia in the Europa League on Thursday night.
The Bhoys left themselves with a lot to do in the second-leg in Spain next week after Denis Cheryshev and Ruben Sobrino scored on either side of half-time for Valencia in the round of two clash at Celtic Park this week.
Smith believes that the sub-par displays of Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie, Scott Brown and especially Dedryck Boyata led to Celtic’s demise in the first-leg showdown.
“We saw player after player mishit their passes, either out of play or put them straight to an opponent,” Smith said on the Sunday Post website.
“It wasn’t just the fringe guys who were guilty of the wastefulness, either.
“Rather it was the mainstays of their successful campaign who were at fault.
“I am talking about the likes of Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie and Scott Brown.
“Dedryck Boyata, a big success for Belgium at the World Cup in the summer, had a particularly uncomfortable night of it.”
OPINION
There is no shame in Celtic losing to Valencia. A lot has been said about them having a poor season in La Liga, but they are still a La Liga club, with some very good players who are capable of cutting teams like the Hoops to shreds. They stood up on Thursday night while Brendan Rodgers’ star players failed to find their stride. It leaves the Bhoys with a lot to do on Thursday night and as long as they don’t get rolled over, there’s no shame in taking the defeat over two legs. Obviously it’s not to say that defeat is acceptable, but it is very much understandable. It could take years and years for Rodgers to put together a team that is capable of getting far in the Europa League knockout stages, but even by then, teams like Valencia would have more than likely improved themselves. Celtic are in a hard position where they are by far and away the best team in their league and have started to hit a ceiling in terms of the quality of players they can buy.