'Celtic's ambition could decide Rodgers' long-term future'published at 14:51 16 April
Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter
Recent Scottish Premiership defeats to Rangers, Hibernian and St Johnstone can all be explained away by the "comfort" zone the manager felt his players had retreated into due to their huge lead at the top of the table.
When your race is run, it's hard to keep the same focus and intensity. Fair enough, up to a point, and it's one I've made on this page before.
What if the drop off in form, however, is so stark it leads to an unprecedented dip in results?
Until recently, Brendan Rodgers had never lost to Scottish opposition four times in the space of three months. I had a peek back through the archives just to make sure.
Upon arrival in Scottish football, he famously didn't lose a single domestic match in the 2016-17 season. The 'invincible treble' and all that.
He's still to lose a match at Hampden across his two spells in charge, a record that's likely to survive the Saints' attempts to shred it at the national stadium on Sunday.
But what do the four defeats in 2025 tell us? That Celtic aren't as good as we thought?
That could be true but could also be a little harsh, given they went from early August until the turn of the year without losing to anyone except last season's Champions League runners-up Borussia Dortmund.
In that time, they won the League Cup, effectively wrapped up the Premiership title and made progress into the knockout phase of the Champions League.
With all their boxes ticked, cue the inevitable drop-off.
There is one valid question that requires addressing: are Celtic significantly better than they were last season? If not, do the big-money arrivals of Arne Engels, Auston Trusty and Adam Idah require further scrutiny?
Those three cost about £26m. For Celtic, that's pushing the boat out. Has the requisite amount of progress been made? Perhaps.
While European results were good, you could also argue the luck of the draw favoured Rodgers' men. They had wins over RB Leipzig, Slovan Bratislava and Young Boys, who finished 32nd, 35th and 36th respectively in the new 36-team format.
Having spent big last summer, will Celtic have the budget to do the same again in a few months' time? Kieran Tierney is coming home and Jota is already in the building.
A striker is required to help Daizen Maeda and Idah, given no replacement arrived for the departed Kyogo Furuhashi. If Greg Taylor moves on, a new left-back will be needed.
Given Trusty's failure to nail down the vacant centre-half berth beside Cameron Carter-Vickers, would the manager want another central defender to compete with Trusty and Liam Scales?
If the midfield is over-reliant on captain Calum McGregor, Engels will have to show significant improvement in his second season to justify his transfer fee. If any of Luke McCowan, Reo Hatate or Paulo Bernardo head for pastures new, the midfield is another area Rodgers might feel needs reinforced.
Unless Yang Hyun-Jun can string a series of consistent performances together, he might find he's competing with yet another winger come the start of next term.
Whatever positions he decides to strengthen, Rodgers is likely to want a bigger bang for his buck - or certainly a more prolonged one - than his summer purchases produced last time around.
Before watching his side thrash Kilmarnock, Rodgers confirmed he will, at the very least, be Celtic's manager next term.
The club will want to talk about extending his contract beyond next season. His decision on whether or not to do so may come down to the level of the club's ambition.
They may very well be making these big decisions on the back of yet another domestic treble. That, though, is no longer the only stage Rodgers is content impressing on.
