Chris Sutton has admitted that Brendan Rodgers’ way of criticising Mikey Johnston in the press is “odd” after Rodgers said the player has to do more if he’s to have a future at Celtic.
The former Celtic striker believes that doing this in the public eye can “go either way”, and may not end well for the player or manager.
Rodgers has since come out and praised Mikey Johnston’s quality.
Writing in the Daily Record, Sutton said:
“There has been some refreshing honesty from Rodgers in recent weeks over important things like recruitment and performances.
“You want to hear managers telling it how it is. But, at the same time, I’ve got to say I find the public digging out of Mikey Johnston a bit odd. Rodgers was critical of the winger, saying he needed to do more on the pitch. It’s fair enough thinking it, but actually saying it in public is another matter. That kind of thing can go either way.
“It might give Johnston motivation – but it could also heap more pressure on a player who already seems to have a lot on his shoulders. It is a gamble because Celtic and Rodgers need Johnston right now
“They just don’t have enough options in the wide areas during this busy festive spell to not have him on the pitch.
“Luis Palma has done pretty well, but it’s clear Yang is not up to it yet. He looked like someone who had won a raffle to get a game in the first-half last weekend and while he may have talent he still looks a good bit away from having what it takes at this level.
“Marco Tilio clearly hasn’t done enough to force his way in either. With Daizen Maeda and Liel Abada out, that only leaves James Forrest, so Johnston will be required to play his part.”
“It might be Rodgers is just trying to light a fire under the Ireland cap. I’ve seen it before and it can work.
“Proving a manager wrong can be a big driving factor for a player. But it can also be a dangerous game when sometimes the arm around the shoulder does the trick.
“I don’t think he was particularly poor against Hibs. He started brightly, was chasing back and causing some problems, and then he faded.
“But it was his first start in almost two years so maybe that was to be expected and you could cut him some slack.
“I’ve said before, Johnston does have ability, but he is 24 now and needed to be doing it on a consistent basis. There needs to be an end product, but that is only going to come with games and minutes on the pitch.
“He should get that in the next few weeks. Johnston will be called on and it will be interesting to see how he responds to his public criticism.
“He is already been told he is playing for his future with January approaching and his contract running down.”
It will be interesting to see where Johnston finds himself on Sunday. He didn’t make an impact in his first start in 22 months on Wednesday and had the manager criticising him post-match.
With Forrest and Palma next in line for the right-wing spot, it will be interesting to see what happens with the team selection, and if Johnston keeps his place in the team.
Maeda and Abada are still nursing their injuries. Brendan Rodgers will be desperate to get them back, adding some quality to the right side of the pitch.
Don’t actually like that approach within a manager, and very rarely used in this day and age also?
Also not the first time this season that Rodgers has taken that approach regarding a player either?
Player’s make mistakes and wrong decisions during a game?
Yet does Rodgers think he’s 100% perfect upon his own game?
He sets the tone for the team, and yet his own decision making has been wrong and possibly a bit erratic at times also imo, so far this season?
As a result, we have still lacked a fair bit of consistency also, even if it hasn’t been to damaging to ourselves really so far?
A bit hypocritical on Rodgers behalf, I would claim, and prefer he kept his trap shut and spoke to player’s in confidential surroundings myself, especially when you can never be to sure about the reaction it can have upon the player’s with such a public criticism imo?