As always, with any dropped points, every player comes under the microscope at Celtic and every player is immediately assessed by the fans.
But this time, it’s not the fans who are delivering their verdict on Nat Phillips; it’s the Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers.
The Celtic manager was asked for his thoughts on the 26-year-old on-loan Liverpool defender, and while he was hesitant to be too critical, Rodgers did attempt to provide an honest assessment of the Englishman.
“I think Nat played like the team,” Rodgers told The Scotsman.
“He was dominant in the air and physically strong in the first half.” The two center halves worked well together and dealt effectively with the aerial threat. It was all right.
“We just went a little bit negative in the second half and ended up conceding the two goals and he was unfortunate with his own goal.”
Nat Phillips will return to Liverpool after failing to impress at Celtic
Brought in as emergency defensive cover in the summer, Phillips has failed to do anything of note to prove that he is worthy of an extension to his current loan deal.
Phillips, 26, is set to return to Merseyside at the end of December, despite being preferred over Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke.
Phillips arrived at Celtic clearly out of shape, and judging by his performance against Kilmarnock yesterday, he still looked out of place in terms of match sharpness and running.
In my opinion, he will be one of the players who leave Celtic in January. Rodgers has no real reason to keep Phillips at the club with over £7 million worth of his own defenders on the bench, considering he has struggled to make a material impact in his short time there.
In other news, Celtic told to go and sign 26-year-old Kilmarnock player after yesterday’s defeat
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