Former Parkhead ace thinks Celtic lacked 'urgency' in Braga defeat as managerial front runner for Rangers job named
A look at the latest news from both Celtic and Rangers after their Europa League matches
As both Rangers and Celtic taste defeat in Europe, discontent is rife amongst fans on both sides of the Old Firm.
Celtic lost 2-0 at home to Braga in a match that wasn’t without controversy. A 30-yard Ricardo Horta strike put the visitors in front with a shot Kasper Schmeichel will feel he should’ve done better with. After that, Kelechi Iheanacho thought he’d equalised for The Hoops but the goal was chopped off for a handball after a lengthy VAR call. A late Gabri Martinez finish then sealed the victory for The Archbishops. While refereeing decisions will make the headlines, a former Celtic captain wasn’t happy with the tempo The Hoops played at.
Things didn’t go any better for Rangers, as Russell Martin’s side have now lost two from two in the Europa League. First half goals from Sturm Graz’ Tomi Horvat and Otar Kiteishvili gave the visitors a mountain to climb in Austria. Djeidi Gassama got a goal back just after half time, but the Royal Blues were unable to find an equaliser. As the Rangers boss has now won just five matches of his opening sixteen, some well-acquainted figures in the game are already looking at his replacement.
Here’s a look at the latest stories from both Celtic Park and Ibrox:
Celtic lacked ‘urgency’ and ‘creativity’ in Braga defeat
Former Celtic captain, Stiliyan Petrov believes the side have dropped off massively in form compared to last season. Speaking on TNT Sports after the Braga loss, he said: “it was a really disappointing performance, it feels like the team is disconnected, there’s no belief.
"We're used to watching Celtic with a lot of urgency, creating and taking risks. There was nothing like that tonight. There was disbelief. Players are playing without confidence. There was no leader. The performances of late have been very unimpressive, we’ve not been scoring goals, not been getting results and tonight was proof of that and Braga managed the game very well, but Celtic were poor.”
Celtic have only scored one goal in their four European matches so far, however were unlucky in this particular match that Iheanacho’s goal got chopped off. Next up for the Hoops is Motherwell at home as they seek to end their two game goalless drought at Parkhead.
Sean Dyche’s name mentioned ‘with greater frequency’ for Rangers job
Former Aberdeen CEO, Keith Wyness, who remains very well connected in the game, believes Russell Martin will be sacked in the near future and that Sean Dyche is the favourite to take over. According to Football Insider, he said: “I’m afraid an injury-time winner against Livingston, who’ve just been promoted, isn’t exactly the recipe for getting the fans happy.
“I’ve been trying to test the temperature with my contacts in Glasgow. It’s still very, very anti-Russell at the moment, but the board have been sticking firm. However, even I can see that they’re starting to weaken a little bit now.
“I see Sean Dyche hovering around and his name getting mentioned with greater frequency. I really think it’s wrong for them to knee-jerk because of the fans, because a long-term fix is required. I’ve said it for many weeks now that the Rangers fans have been living in this unrealistic world and they’ve got to realise what’s going on.”