As the week goes on – this long, tense week which threatens to be nearly unbearable – I will write a series of pieces on the blame game.
There is no question that one of those most responsible for this mess is the manager. But he has some mitigation at least, which I’ll talk about in the article specifically on his role here.
Yet there is little doubt that Brendan Rodgers is under real pressure.
He might not survive it.
I said when he made his initial statement about working with what he was given that this was madness, this was putting his destiny in someone else’s hands and that he might live to regret that. By the time the window closed it was clear that the directors had rolled right over him, his wishes considered utterly irrelevant. As a result, his neck is now on the block.
Rodgers team is dreadful to watch. Let’s not make any bones about this. We can’t kid ourselves here, and we especially cannot tell ourselves comforting lies. This team shape is all wrong. The playing style is all wrong. The system has us playing players who shouldn’t be near the team, and the worst thing is that opposing managers have us completely figured out.
Listen to them talking. McInnes knew what his team had to do to beat us. Naismith knew they could get a result, even at Celtic Park, which most managers in Scotland believed was Mission: Impossible. We already know that Martindale is the king of negative football with a physical edge; I cannot think of a worse team to be playing against this weekend.
And if we play using that dire to watch and easy to counter style, we are going to drop more points and the fury that will rain down from those stands will be more intense than anyone at the club has experienced in their careers. It must not happen.
Rodgers has the duration of this week to work this out. Most importantly, he needs to find a way to take the shackles off Kyogo Furuhashi, because what’s happened to him playing in this system is nothing short of criminal. To take the best striker this club has had since The King Of Kings and to make him a shadow of the player he was last season … that’s almost impressive and as much as anything else it is responsible for this disastrous downturn in form.
Additionally, if we lose another goal to a set-piece in the next few weeks then coaching team heads should roll all the way down London Road. I was not surprised in the least on Saturday to concede a goal to a dead-ball situation, it is horrifying how predictable it is and disgraceful that the coaches cannot sort this out. It is equally disgraceful that we cannot capitalise on them. Twenty corner kicks at the weekend, every single one of them wasted.
I wrote a piece last week on alternative playing systems we could be using; with our problems out wide and the utter futility of a tactic based around crossing the ball into a packed penalty area we need to be more direct and play through the middle.
We could utilise a second ball-winner, Iwata if he’s fit, or Bernardo if he’s not, and play a 4-3-1-2 with the full-backs doubling up as attackers. Or we could go to Martin O’Neill’s 3-5-2 with the attacking full backs … when your team is predictable a tactical change has to be in the thinking and if it’s not then the manager is not doing his job.
And in case it hasn’t dawned on Rodgers, the doubts about him have resurfaced big time and he is going to run out of friends and allies fast if this slump continues and he continues to sound like a guy who doesn’t have options or at least can’t think of any.
His after match comments shocked me, and made me think about some of the stuff he’s said over the last few months, most notably his constant refrain that this team needs “winners” as though the core of this squad had won nothing before he arrived in the summer.
It’s hugely disrespectful to his players and it must have pissed some of them off. If he loses the dressing room he’s finished and so is our season.
It should be clear that I’m also sick and tired of his whingeing about the hand he’s been dealt. It’s atrocious, it’s true, most of the summer signings are not going to make it and should never have been signed, but he made his own bed when he accepted that going in and if he’s now grabbed that situation by the balls, it isn’t before time.
The people above him will fire him if he doesn’t start getting results.
That’s just the fact of it. Some of them never wanted him in the first place, and would happily put the noose around his neck.
That he constantly bitches about the transfer strategy and refuses to play the players who were signed is very easy to understand and I sympathise … but if they wanted to suggest that he’s not performing the role he was brought in for, which includes developing these guys, who could argue with that? That’s part of his job, and the other part is getting results. If he’s not doing either then he’s got no place to hide.
So, he’s got this week, and he better use it productively and well. If not, this is going to swell into a genuine crisis and he’s going to give this board a decision to make and I don’t want them having to do that because I don’t trust them to get the answer right.
To be blunt, their judgement has proved to be so suspect in the last 18 months that when it comes to strategic decision making, I don’t trust them at all.
We might get a clear indication of how the rest of our season could pan out,
during those first 20 minutes against Livi?
If it’s a frustrating, continuation from Saturday,
with slow, ponderous, side-to-side, flat play, with no bite from the players,
then BR has definitely lost the dressing room,
and our season could be gubbed before Santa’s even been.
However, if the players get directly at Livi from the kick-off,
and raise the tempo massively, and bang in a goal or two,
then a lot of doubts could fall away quickly.
A crushing win against Livi won’t solve everything of course,
but it will be a step in the right direction.
…anything less though, will just spoil Christmas! 🙁
Mr Clements at Ibrox is working with what he has got and getting results. He has brought youngsters in as well from their B team. Imagine what will happen if he eventually gets to work with players he wants.
Exactly – good managers are able to take the squad they inherit and make the team better immediately due to tactics, formation, organisation and simple effective team strategies and then supplement that improvement with new players over time. Rangers have appointed a manager who has them doing the basics well – don’t concede and take your chances at the other end – wins bring confidence which brings more wins and more confidence and momentum – it’s not rocket science.
Most of us lambasted Lennon for ruining the team Rodgers built first time around but at least it took 18months to do it – Rodgers has utterly destroyed Ange’s team in 4 and 1/2 months !!! Either he accepts that his tactics/formations need revamping or he goes!!
Hi James,
I appreciate your discussion, your thoughts have similarities to many.
BR is too bull headed to change, 11 Brazillians would not do better. BR is not playing players because he did not choose them. I am like a broken record now, I suspect most supporters feel the same, dishing out poor commentary on players stating they are not good enough, going back not 1, 2, or even 3 steps, it has taken him half a season to dismantle a promising team. This is really bad management; From his previous tenure he provided hope now it is only woe.
You can blame the board, this is normal, but the buck stops with the manager, he looks defeated, out of ideas and it looks like the players are tired of him or confused.
Football they say is a simple game, we have good enough players to do well in the SPL, we are not doing well. It all points to BR, even his interview demenour, which is obvious in this instance or poor play, however this is emulated by the on-field performance.
BR from before… I watched his interviews over and over, I loved his upbeat, positive and inspiring chat, I liked the winning, like any fan, but even then the ‘side-to-side was boring, but again a winning solution in the SPL, however not Europe.
How can we change if BR cannot, the answer is obvious, a new Manager with his own backroom staff, which is a sad thing to say.
A new system, style, and new players will not change anything under the previously great BR, it is for all to see.
If the squad has developed a ‘ lack of confidence ‘ in itself , it will take quite some time to rectify the situation . How can the club go from a 7 point advantage over the tribute act who sacked their coach for being a dud a few weeks ago ,to be on the cusp of self implosion losing out on the huge riches of next season’s Champions League revamp where the financial rewards are astronomically wealthy ? Obviously success and financial strength are of no interest to the Celtic board ? So exactly what is the mindset of the ‘suits ‘ behind closed doors ?
You’re right, but I worry he has no intention of changing things. For him that means a multi million pound payoff, but for the club…. It means so much more. Consider me very worried.
Just how many millions does a Celtic ‘supporter’ ? like Rodgers need Martin !
Well quite, I was more suggesting that the outcome of his being pig headed for him is significantly less awful than it is for, say, us.
Yeah, he better start getting us out of this tailspin for his sake – and ours. The board is likely to appoint Alex Neill or Jack Ross if they have a vacancy – anyone unemployed who will cost the square root of hee-haw and be so happy to have a job that he’ll dae as he’s telt…..
Up until Saturday’s mess, imo ah thought, in spite of the setbacks, we were still playin better football than the ibrox team. Regardless of what the media would have everybody believe and what makes it worse, the fact is that lot are nothin great either. Because of that, the league title and Scottish cup are still saveable. We’re the ones with the money. This board need tae put the team first and strengthen properly, its then BR’s responsibility tae get the team back on track.
Rodgers doesn’t seem to take advice no matter how good as we saw with his insistance in playing Ambrose until the Red Imps disaster. Similarly everyone has been shouting about the need for a quality goalkeeper which has gone unheeded and truth be told by Ange as well.
All is not lost if we beat Sevco and it is easy if history tells us anything. Ange put Maeda on Tavernier and he hounded him out of the game . I noticed in one game last season he did this and then Daizen either lost concentration around the 60 minute mark and Tavernier scored from the same spot he did yesterday.
Crowed him out and they have nothing.
Unfortunately, I doubt Rodgers and kennedy have the nous to work that out and we will have the same team and tactics as usual.
Clear from day one that Rodgers was not up for this. Body and verbal language spelled trouble.
Heck all he had to say was “ whatever Ange had you doing, keep doing it”. Or call and ask Ange.
It’s hard to get a team to gel, it’s just plain stupid to destroy one that is functioning well.
He’s lost the dressing room with ill timed comments and we all know how this will end-the board will let him limp along to end of season and we will win nothing.
Calm head today James and you’ve hit the nail RIGHT on the head. As someone who considers himself to be measured in my analytical and critical thinking, youv’e blasted a couple of massive holes in that perception of myself. You are absolutely right. Sure we can point the finger at the nepotism that resulted in an unqualified person being in charge of our recruitment. But we know now that Rodgers accepted the gig on that basis. He has always prided himself to be someone who can develop promising talent. And with good reason, look at the job he did on Calmac.
The sensible approach (in my view, based on what I learn from your articles) would have been to play the duds that Lawwell Jnr signed for him and demonstrated that they weren’t good enough. Show to the board that he’s spending time with these clodhoppers and they clealy don’t have what it takes. Or maybe he could have improved them – we’ll never know by the look of things.
As regards our incompetence at set plays – why is this even a thing? We had this discussion years ago and fingers were pointed at Kennedy and Strachan. Even if that was who was to blame, what is Rodgers doing if he’s not taking anything to with recruitment of players or development of the duds he’s been handed by Lawwell Jnr?
Excellent article, James. I wish more people would take the time to research their woes by listening to opinions that matter instead of taking the Daily Record to the bog with them (and not to wipe their arse with it which is what they should be doing). And see those clowns who phone Clyde SSB as “Celtic fans” …. get a grip.
His ego won’t allow that,he could have come in in the summer and carried on with the Ange philosophy and style of play but no,he decides Kyogo would be better playing behind the forward players and linking up with them…..criminal,now we have a player who is a pale imitation of himself. We have players who we haven’t seen in months come in for one game or come on as a sub then disappear again. If he doesn’t get 4/5 players in January (which he won’t) he’s going to have to run with the players he doesn’t rate,it’s not going to end well is it? How can he say a team which had won 5 out of 6 trophies available in the last 2 seasons needed winners in it…baffling.
I think someone made a fair point in that Kyogo hasn’t been the same player since the “headbutt” incident.
well said james….exactly how i feel…and i would imagine, most celtic fans…unfortunately, i don’t, for 1 second, trust this board to do anything right re rodgers or transfers…and i just don’t see them EVER sacking rodgers…with the contract he is on – no chance….and he is after all, a big favourite of that dick desmond…when the fans were protesting during the covid season, weren’t they labelled “spoilt” or “entitled” by desmond or a board member ? so i can see desmond dig his heels in….and let the season crash in flames….what does he care…? what do any of them care really ?
was speaking to an ibrox fan this morning….he cannot believe their luck…can’t believe what celtic are doing to themselves…i said yea…me too…….
a club like no other
fail fail
Let’s take Lagerbielke as a case in point. Signed by the Board. Left out in the cold by the manager (preferring Phillips). Given a chance. Takes it. Dropped.
Sounds like Rodgers working his ticket John…
Probably because of Lawwell being there but he was there by a few months before Rodgers came back –
So when it happens –
Rodgers wins big time (financially anyway)…
Lawwell wins big time (egotistically anyway)…
Sevco wins big time (on the pitch with us in utter turmoil – a scandalous situation)…
And us ordinary Celtic supporters LOSE BIG TIM watching it all unfold with our hands tied and nothing we can do !
I was surprised he came back to do what win the spl to make more progress in cl at least win a match”well its not working out as planned .He has changed how the team plays as all managers want there style of football but maybe just to quick for some players to adjust to his style of football and it shows is not working going by the results and performance from the team at present things need to change quickly or things will get worse Rodgers needs to have rethink on how he wants the team to play and get players back on board if not it won’t end we’ll for him and the team .
Kyogo has chucked it simple as! The rest of the article is spot on though.
Like yourself James, I was very much in favour of the return of Rodgers.
Sadly that opinion has totally eroded away now, and to the degree that I wouldn’t be sorry to see the back of him at this stage?
Has any Celtic manager ever inherited a squad with so much quality within it?
Not that I can recall, and expected him to actually build upon what he had, not to go destroying it with his methods?
We had a clear identity as a team, and an approach where every player knew there roles and what was expected from them in return by the manager?
That approach has been torn to shreads now, and looking like an amateur outfit currently, where we haven’t a clue what to expect?
We have still produced some very decent displays, but these are being totally outnumbered by the amount of shite being served up lately on far to big of a regular occurrence also?
The decision making by Rodgers is nothing but rank rotten, so many decisions that are so baffling that it’s impossible to understand, so is it any wonder that serial winning players are playing like they haven’t got a clue what’s going on?
Where are these so called quality players going to fit into such a shapeless team, without any form of style or direction as of where its currently at.
Would love to know how Paulo is regarded as the better option for CL football, yet Turnbull is regarded as the better option for SPFL games?
How does that decision makes any sense whatsoever is way beyond me?
Taylor marking in the six yard box from corners? Whose bright idea is that one, when giving goals away?
There is so many of such questions arising for which Rodgers remains the chief culprit for arising, and yet without any signs of seeing solutions either imo?
The next 4 games will decide the future of Rodgers imo, and not convinced he can actually turn around the shit show that’s he’s helped so hugely in creating imo?
Sick of his manner and demeanour towards the club and his players now, and had enough time now to see any form of improvements, but we’re not, and still hold him as the main culprit in such an alarming decline within our play and results also imo?
The manager and the Board are equally to blame for the mess the Celtic Club are in. The Board for putting project players and hopefully a big sell on for big money as the be all and end all signing policy and appointing a manager who’s time has gone, he had his 1 season of reasonable success at Liverpool then all downhill, 2 fantastic years at Celtic and in his final season there were signs of the slow football we are seeing now. Then Leicester 2 pretty good seasons and the 3rd season took them well on the route to relegation with some really good players within the group and then the sack. Brendan’s time has gone, football is all about the high press, plenty of movement off the ball and quick crisp passing. Brendan’s slow possession football will never be successful for us in Scotland if all except the Ibrox team park the bus when playing us.
I don’t like having to part ways with any of our managers but unfortunately I myself think it will have to happen, otherwise our season is over.
If BR can prove me wrong I’ll be delighted,
Rodgers does seem to be working his way to the sack, comments and body language are poor.
Lawell & Rodgers have to go.
Yes Rodgers has taken celtic from a well run Jaguar to a Junk Russiian Lada, look up Lada if your to young.
Problem positions have been ignored.
Players are demoralised under Rodgers, they come in for cover, do a fair job with lack of game time, then get dumped again.
Rodgers is Rank in my personal opinion.
We would all (hopefully) agree Rodgers is a better manager than Lennon. And yet, I remember an almost immediate improvement in the football when Lennon came in after BR ran away. Not that he improved everything (of course not, I really don’t rate him) but the slow ponderous approach was binned and almost overnight it was better to watch and we looked more dangerous.
What am I getting at? Bin the slow ponderous stuff. That’s enough to get us motoring. As to sacking Brendan…I get the arguments but don’t trust the guys hiring his replacement.
In some ways we were very lucky to get Ange, his middle 12 months especially were fantastic. But it was a pretty ticking plaster over a gaping wound. Had Howe been allowed to bring his own guys/structure in perhaps we would’ve changed more behind the scenes. We’ll never know now… But it still, 3 years later, feels like we need to change more at Celtic than simply a manager.
The board only care about the bottom line. Well the bottom line is; fail to win the league and not only lose £60million but hand it over to sevco. Utterly utterly disastrous beyond words.