It appears that Barry Ferguson is taking aim at the Celtic supporters for their criticism of Alexandro Bernabei.
Ange Postecoglou paid £3.75 million to sign the Argentine, who had not demonstrated any skill to play for the team until lately.
To be fair to the 23-year-old, Bernabei has performed admirably, although Brendan Rodgers was obliged to turn to him due to Greg Taylor’s recent injury.
Celtic lost two points against Aberdeen due to an error, but strong showings against Hibs and St Mirren have suggested that perhaps, just possibly, there might be a player there after all.
Ferguson continues to assert that Bernabei is being singled out by the Hoops fan base and is the scapegoat of the Celtic supporters, despite this.
Ferguson stated, “I think he’s come in for a fair bit of criticism,” on The Go Radio Football Show. I didn’t think he was Celtic’s weakest player when I saw the match at Easter Road last week.
“I felt he performed adequately and had a respectable game against St. Mirren.”
Every team has a player who turns into a scapegoat, and Bernabei is, in my opinion, one of such players.
However, I believe that his most recent efforts have been respectable.
Barry Ferguson is completely wrong about the Celtic fans
The claim made by Barry Ferguson that Bernabei is being used as a scapegoat is untrue. The Argentine hasn’t accomplished anything noteworthy since signing for over £4 million two summers ago, as I have stated.
His 19 appearances in Postecoglou’s debut season and his eight appearances under Rodgers thus far indicate that he still has work to do to unseat Greg Taylor at left-back. [Transfermarkt]
Bernabei’s relationship with Rodgers got off to a rough start at the beginning of the season due to discipline concerns, and he never fully recovered from that.
Preseason Friendly: Celtic vs. Gamba Osaka
Masashi Hara took the picture/Getty Images
At the start of his Celtic career, Bernabei also had off-field problems to contend with, and he never won Ange Postecoglou over.
Ferguson’s claim that Bernabei is a “scapegoat” for Celtic supporters is absurd when you consider that criticism of Bernabei dates back to a time before he ever played for the Celtics.
Really, all Bernabei has to do is talk on the pitch. The fans will stick with him if it keeps happening.
In other news, “Exceptional,” “Excellent,” The sentiment among Celtic supporters following a player’s “tremendous” performance against St Mirren is the same.