Connor Goldson has come out and made an admission about the Celtic leak after the Rangers’ 2-0 win away at Parkhead.
Celtic’s performance in Saturday’s Glasgow Derby was disheartening to say the least. While the 2-0 scoreline might not be disastrous, the performance certainly was. The Hoops were completely outplayed by a Rangers side that were not even spectacular themselves.
Neil Lennon’s side just did not look up for the fight. They were happy enough to pass the ball around the back even when two goals down and showed no urgency to score. There was zero creativity to speak of and the only chance they had came out of a defensive mistake on the part of the Rangers. Unfortunately, Mohamed Elyounoussi squandered that as well when he went for a dink when he should have just blasted it.
There was also the small matter of Celtic’s starting XI being leaked ahead of the game. This most probably would not have much of a difference on the result but it certainly would have got much more media coverage if the Hoops’ performance had not been so dire.
Now, Connor Goldson, who scored both the goals on Saturday has admitted that they had even seen the leaked line up before the game. As reported by The Scottish Sun:
"“No truthfully we never.“We went into the game – even in our pre-match meeting – thinking [Christopher] Jullien and [Odsonne] Edouard would play.“I think a few of us saw that team but we didn’t really believe it.“We obviously know in an Old Firm you can never trust anything that comes out.“One day someone is injured and the next day they are playing.“Listen, every player wants to play in an Old Firm whether you are injured or not. You try to get through it. So we actually went into the game thinking Jullien and Edouard would play.”"
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The biggest thing about this is the fact that it was not a conventional starting XI that you would expect Neil Lennon to put out in one of the biggest games of the season. It was definitely someone with a knowledge of what was happening at Celtic and not just a wild guess.
Again, it might not have made much of a difference on the day as a result of Celtic’s performance but that does not mean that it cannot play a part in the future. This is a problem that the club certainly need to take care of as soon as possible.
There are far bigger issues as well though. The defeat means that Celtic have lost their advantage in the league and will now be trying to catch up to the Rangers. What’s more is that this was the third straight time they were outplayed by their rivals and none of their displays has shown any sign of improvement. Surely some changes need to be made.