Why has derby tide turned for Rodgers and Celtic?

Is it possible that Brendan Rodgers’ experience with Celtic has led to the Old Firm pendulum swinging away from Celtic for the first time?

The Northern Irishman has unsurpassed any other manager in either club’s history with a win percentage that is unmatched by any other manager in the history of either club, despite only losing three of his 22 derbies.

And Celtic are reportedly close to doubling their winning percentage this year, with a treble on the cards.

The Celtic manager acknowledges that he is having pause to consider some somber statistics from their most recent encounters with Rangers.

They have conceded three goals in a third successive derby.

For the first time in more than four years, they have lost back-to-back Old Firm games in one season. Since their previous home defeat in the fixture, the interval has passed.

With eight games left, the table’s gap is still manageable by 13 points, but it seems as though the gap is getting smaller between the teams in their meetings.

The champions struggled to recover from the injury-forced absences of captain Callum McGregor and centre-back Auston Trusty as a result of Rangers’ once more hassle and harry them into numerous errors.

In what turned into a classic, five-goal epic, Barry Ferguson’s side could have scored more goals than they did.

Rodgers told BBC Scotland, “I believe we need to show more personality to take the ball.”

We allowed ourselves to be pressed, we weren’t fluid enough to move it, and we made too many mistakes with it. That speed and quality weren’t used by us.

We must take into account the performance level. In these games lately, I don’t believe we’ve been as good as I’d like.

“We make it to the League Cup final, which was fantastic, but again, our performance wasn’t at our highest level.” There is still a lot of thinking to be done because we were well beaten and lost today at Ibrox.

Naturally, there won’t be any panic. In 14 seasons and possibly a sixth treble in nine years, Celtic are well on their way to capturing their 13th Premiership title.

With only one more derby game left at Ibrox this season, Rodgers is demanding more from his team in particular the derbies.

Two former Celtic heroes, who are familiar with winning and losing big derby games, shared that view.

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton regretted McGregor’s absence and the “careless” way they conceded, but said Rangers’ successive defeats showed more promise than his former team.

The Rangers have already defeated Celtic twice this year, but they won’t win the league, he claimed. When the pressure is low, they perform well.

They can put on performances like those from today, but they are far away, in many ways.

Asked by Rangers for displaying “bundles of character,” former team-mate Neil Lennon said that Celtic weren’t working as well as they could have, “but acknowledged that they weren’t.”

No one in the city will get too carried away with Rodgers because his win rate in the derby is still a respectable 73%.

First of all, because Celtic will still have a chance to win the league. Second, because Rangers are still greeted by them after the split.

However, it is significant in itself that Ferguson and his team are excited about a third consecutive win. They have given a thought to Celtic and their manager.