Glasgow Derby defeat a wake-up call for Celtic insists Johan Mjallby | OneFootball

Former Celtic defender Johan Mjallby reckons that Celtic’s second Glasgo Derby defeat of the season is a real wake up call for Brendan Rodgers an his Celtic players…

Arnie Engels of Celtic and Ianis Hagi of theRangers during the Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park, Celtic v theRangers, 16 Mar 2025 O Rourke/ Shutterstock

Despite the talk from Brendan Rodgers, that both he and the team were going to rectify what happened that day at Ibrox in the New Year, once again we were left with a bloody nose and an undesirable performance all over the park.

The Ibrox outfit deployed the exact same tactics

The Ibrox outfit deployed the exact same tactics as last time around, where they hustled and harried us in the press which led to several mistakes right from the start. These individual and collective mistakes subsequently led to the first corner of the game early doors, which resulted in the opposition getting their noses in front with the first goal, thanks to a Nico Raskin header which should have been dealt with, especially as Raskin was the smallest player on the park.

Kasper Schmeichel picks the ball out of the net during the Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park, Celtic v theRangers 16 March 2025. Photo O Rourke, Shutterstock

Things went from bad to worse in that first half, with the team refusing to go long at points, even when it was obvious our midfield was being marked out of the game. The away side grabbed a second before half-time and gave us a mountain to climb in the second period of the game. Even though the Bhoys battled back, defensively we were all over the place and at 2-2, you always felt they might get another chance to steal the game as Celtic pushed for a winner.

Dreadful yet comical defending from Alistair Johnston and CCV

Hamza Igamane’s 88th minute wonder strike sealed the deal, after some dreadful yet comical defending from Alistair Johnston and Cameron Carter-Vickers, highlighting just how poor the spine of our team was and how easy we made it for Ferguson’s team on the day.

‘For Brendan Rodgers, I think it must hurt’

Now Johan Mjallby says the result is a real wake up call for Rodgers and his team and reckons they’ll have to put it right in the final derby match of the season at Ibrox. “For Brendan Rodgers, I think it must hurt though,” he told the Scottish Football Social Club podcast.

Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, looks on prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and theRangers at Celtic Park on March 16, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“He’s a perfectionist and he’s looking for the perfect team, with the perfect game to play. For him now, he built his team to be really good on the ball, to always build out from the back. Now they failed twice against their biggest challengers. It’s going to be interesting to see in the next Glasgow Derby. I’m quite sure that Brendan is going to have something in his back pocket. You know he’s going to change something. It’s not just going to be the personnel.

‘I’m looking forward to the next one’

Hamza Igamane of theRangers scores his team’s third goal during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and theRangers at Celtic Park on March 16, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“So, at the end of the day, it’s probably good to end this season with Celtic having a good chance to win the Treble, but they’re definitely going to win the league. So it’s probably good in that sense that these two defeats are coming. It is a wake up call, to not get as a fat cat and think just happy days all of the time. So I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Paul Gillespie

Majic, Stan & The King of Japan, out now at Celticstarbooks.com

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