CELTIC CONFIDENTIAL: The one player who enhanced his reputation in defeat by Rangers and why Brendan Rodgers must be wary of the turning tide in Old Firm combat

Not many Celtic players could emerge from the derby defeat with their heads held high, so poor was their overall performance, in the first half at least.

Daizen Maeda is exempt from criticism for the usual reasons — he put in a shift, scored a goal and set the kind of standards that are usually met by his team-mates.

Reo Hatate could claim to deserve pass marks for pulling Celtic level in the 3-2 defeat by Rangers, although he and his fellow midfielders were no substitute for the injured Callum McGregor.

But there is one other player whose relatively solid performance offered a sliver of consolation on an otherwise miserable day for Celtic.

While it would be stretching it to suggest that Maik Nawrocki was outstanding, the Polish centre half showed resolve where those around him were uncharacteristically ragged.

It was a performance strong enough to make a mystery of the 24-year-old’s long-standing exclusion from Brendan Rodgers’ team and the player’s uncertain future at Celtic.

The defender has been used sparingly by Brendan Rodgers but showed up well on derby day

The 24-year-old rises above Vaclav Cerny and will hope to have done enough to keep his place

Like Gustaf Lagerbielke, Nawrocki was signed shortly after Rodgers arrived in June 2023. They were reported to have cost about £3million and £4m respectively, but the manager has not taken to either player.

Lagerbielke is on loan at Dutch top flight side FC Twente, where he is performing well and likely to stay. Nawrocki has made only 16 appearances for Celtic, just 10 of them from the start.

After recovering from an injury last season, the Pole struggled to get back in the manager’s plans. With Lagerbielke also out of favour, Rodgers publicly questioned the two players’ personalities and the way they trained.

Nawrocki only played on Sunday because Liam Scales and Auston Trusty were injured. He had made just two previous appearances this season, as a substitute against Falkirk and Raith Rovers.

And yet, he looked like the regular in the back four as Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alistair Johnston made mistakes, failed to connect with the midfield and were given no confidence by Kasper Schmeichel’s eccentric distribution.

Cameron Carter-Vickers and Alastair Johnston didn’t enjoy the greatest of matches last week

So what now for the young defender? With a contract that runs until 2028, this has the potential to be a turning point in his Celtic career. Or it could be that he realises there is no prospect of winning over the manager.

If Rodgers doesn’t give him more game time now, you suspect he never will.

Turning tide could make things awkward for Rodgers 

So much for all the fuss about St Johnstone’s decision to allocate three of their stands to Celtic fans on April 6. The title party is unlikely to be at McDiarmid Park.

With 13 points separating Celtic from second-placed Rangers, a celebration in Perth is still possible, but it would require Barry Ferguson’s side to suffer defeats in each of their next two games.

Given the way they performed in the derby on Sunday, the smart money would be on Celtic’s big day being delayed, perhaps even into the post-split programme.

If both teams were to win all of their next three matches, the deal could be sealed in the first of the Premiership’s final five games.

Celtic manager Rodgers has much thinking to do after suffering another Old Firm setback

That is later than Celtic had been anticipating, but it is not late enough to throw up the prospect of the title being clinched at Ibrox when the teams meet for the last time this season. That clash will still be ‘meaningless’.

Which is when Rangers seem to be at their most dangerous. After all, their rare victories in the fixture’s recent history have been when there is nothing tangible at stake. They have won their last two games against Celtic, both when there was no prospect of winning the title.

If they were to make it three in a row, things could get awkward for Brendan Rodgers. For all that he has dominated the fixture during his two spells in Glasgow, a tide is threatening to turn in the derby.

Two consecutive defeats by Rangers could just as easily have been three, given that they needed a penalty shootout to see off their crisis-ridden rivals in the Premier Sports Cup final. In those three Old Firm games, Rodgers’ team have conceded nine goals. After the match on Sunday, he admitted that he had ‘a wee bit of thinking to do’.

Of course, Celtic will win the championship, probably lift the Scottish Cup and, in so doing, claim a domestic treble. They also reached the Champions League knockout round play-offs, where they pushed Bayern Munich all the way.

The sight of Rangers celebrating a derby victory at Celtic Park was not welcome for home fans 

In any normal world, that level of success would be more than enough to outweigh a few setbacks in meaningless derbies. But Glasgow football is not a normal world, and a poor record against Rangers is never helpful for a Celtic manager, regardless of the bigger picture.

Rodgers would be well advised to guard against complacency in the next meeting of these teams, however little appears to be riding on it.

Palma has designs on a double success in Greece 

Honduran winger Luis Palma may have been frozen out at Celtic under Brendan Rodgers but he could yet enjoy a sizzling end to the season under a warm Greek sun with Olympiakos.

Palma was farmed out to the reigning UEFA Conference League champions in January following the return of Jota to Parkhead, and it’s safe to say he’s landed on his feet with the Greek Super League leaders.

While he’s yet to complete 90 minutes for the Piraeus club — a feat he managed only four times in his 48 appearances for Celtic — Palma has played his part as Olympiakos have moved seven points clear at the top of the table.

Palma has hit the ground running at Olympiakos and could win a permanent move to Greece

The Honduran started brightly at Celtic but soon became a source of frustration for fans

In addition, he claimed his first goal and assist for the club in their 6-0 dismantling of  AEK Athens in the first leg of their Greek Cup semi-final last month.

Following the international break, Palma will hope to get in on the action in the iconic derby clash at home to Panathinaikos, before completing the formalities of that Greek Cup semi-final second leg against AEK.

The club’s European bubble was burst with a bruising Europa League exit at the hands of Bodo/Glimt, but with a potential double on the horizon, Palma will no doubt be pinching himself at having swapped a seat on the bench in Scotland for the chance to carve out some career highlights in southern Europe.

More importantly for Celtic, given Palma is contracted to the Parkhead club until 2028, any further success could see Olympiakos pull the trigger on the option-to-buy they secured on a player who the Celtic support just never really warmed to.

Crunch time for Welsh on Mechelen adventure 

Not all loans result in glamour and glory, of course. Just ask Stephen Welsh.

The long-time Celtic central-defensive prospect was also shipped out of Parkhead on a temporary basis during the most recent window, in his case to the Belgian Pro League.

Stephen Welsh faces former Celtic pal Ewan Henderson in Mechelen’s defeat by Beerschot

The Celtic defender has had a mixed time so far in Mechelen’s famous red and yellow kit

Given he managed only two appearances for Celtic all season even as Brendan Rodgers’ backline endured injury problems, Welsh’s move to Mechelen clearly wasn’t just a case of offering him some game time. It was also an opportunity to show his worth once and for all away from the comforts of his boyhood club.

This, after all, is a player with multiple appearances in Europe to his name and who was wanted by Toulouse and Udinese, among others, in the past few years. But his loyalty to Celtic has not been rewarded with a run of games in Rodgers’ first-team, for one reason or another.

His Belgian adventure got off to an inauspicious start with his new club suffering three straight defeats — and Welsh being hooked at half-time in two of those. He has started only two of seven games since, although he was back in favour for Mechelen’s most recent outing, a 2-1 win at home to FCV Dender.

All his club have to play for now, in the Pro League’s convoluted split format, is a play-off place for a potential Conference League spot. For Welsh, though, the remaining 10 league fixtures — should he manage to be selected — are far more important than that. It’s beginning to feel like make-or-break if the now 25-year-old wants to play at the highest level.

Sadiku’s side are losing form at the wrong time

Celtic women’s coach Elena Sadiku has questioned her players’ ability to handle the pressure after their title hopes suffered another setback in Edinburgh on Sunday.

A 3-1 defeat by Hearts in the first fixture of the post-split programme leaves Celtic fourth in the table, three points behind Glasgow City, four behind Rangers and six behind leaders Hibs.

Already out of the two cups, they now have significant ground to make up in the SWPL if they are to prevent a trophyless season, just 12 months after being crowned champions for the first time.

Worse still, they have gone three matches without a win and have triumphed in just one of their last five. Their latest disappointment means they are only two points ahead of fifth-placed Hearts. 

Elena Sadiku is staring down the barrel at a trophyless season after last year’s title high

Two goals down at Oriam, Celtic gave themselves a lifeline through Saoirse Noonan’s overhead kick, but it took only three minutes for Hearts to restore their two-goal lead and effectively end the contest.

As Celtic enter the closing stretch of a season that has included a thrilling adventure in the Champions League, Sadiku admits that the burden of defending their title is affecting some of her players.

‘There is big pressure on us from external factors, fans,’ she said. ‘We know we’re the champions, we want to defend the title and I think that comes with it.

‘Pressure is the best thing ever. It’s a privilege. It should keep you on your toes, but I think that’s something the players aren’t used to yet.’