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Last night was another triumph for this fearless Celtic boss and his faith in our team.

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Image for Last night was another triumph for this fearless Celtic boss and his faith in our team.

The saying goes, “Victory has a thousand fathers, while failure is an orphan.” Essentially, when you win, everyone wants a piece of the credit. When you lose, you’re very much on your own.

History is nothing if not hindsight.

Almost everything we now view as “genius” was at one time considered borderline madness—except for one crucial factor: it worked.

The annals of history are filled with men and women hailed as visionaries, whose daring breakthroughs and momentous decisions would have branded them as fools had things gone the other way. Often, the difference between a celebrated “genius” and someone with more modest success is that geniuses dare where lesser people hold back.

In 1796, when Napoleon was just an ambitious officer, he launched his campaign in Italy. To call it audacious is an understatement. He broke nearly every accepted “rule” of warfare in doing so: he split his forces, abandoned his supply lines, and charged against a series of entrenched enemies on their home ground. His approach was aggressive, verging on reckless—and it was precisely for these reasons that he succeeded. Today, it’s remembered as one of history’s boldest campaigns. Had it failed, he’d have been just another footnote.

I was reminded of this last night on the bus back from the game when a mate said to me that Rodgers’ team selection was a “masterclass in squad rotation and management.” Then he added, “But if it had gone wrong, Rodgers would have carried the can.” That’s when it struck me: Rodgers is deftly balancing countless factors, confidently juggling every ball in the air.

This wasn’t genius from Rodgers, but it was gutsy.

Rodgers has the courage that defines top managers, the bold leaders, and, yes, the great generals. He takes risks. He could have gone the safe route, fielded his strongest eleven, and rotated later on. Instead, he conserved his resources, held a little in reserve, and showed enough trust in his players to gamble on their talent and depth.

Our performance last night wasn’t vintage; we weren’t in our best form. But make no mistake, we were the only side looking to win. Dundee rarely got out of their half, our keeper had nothing to do, and we enjoyed over 80% possession. We dominated from start to finish, and that’s what should scare other sides. We achieved that level of control without brilliance.

There were no standouts, per se—Alistair Johnston came on as a sub and won Man of the Match—but there were also no weak links.

This was a disciplined, comprehensive team display.

And the significance is this: we found ourselves in the same position that the Ibrox club did against Kilmarnock. Aberdeen and Celtic had dropped points. All they had to do was capitalise, and the league table would be looking far better for them than it does now. But they crumbled under that pressure, absolutely buckled, and we both extended our lead.

Now we’ve extended it even further.

Last night, at Celtic Park, Rodgers knew that regardless of Aberdeen’s result, we’d be the primary beneficiaries. The only stipulation was that we had to get our own result, secure our own three points. Yet even with this in mind, Rodgers made six changes.

My friend was spot on—if things had gone wrong, everyone would have blamed the manager. But he’s willing to bear that. He’s more than okay with taking that gamble. And that’s what sets elite coaches apart. The best leaders, the ones who reach for the stars, are risk-takers. You can see it even in Europe; our heavy loss in Dortmund exemplifies Rodgers’ willingness to be bold, and his tactical switch in Bergamo shows he learns from his mistakes.

Rodgers’ reward for taking that risk last night? We’re still level with Aberdeen, but we’re nine points clear of the club across the city, which is now mired in the deepest crisis of its 12-year history. I don’t mind saying it: this is a proper crisis. And we all suspect Aberdeen will falter soon enough, leaving us poised to move ahead when they do.

What’s turned up the heat at Ibrox even more is Aberdeen’s stellar form. If they were only nine points adrift of us, Ibrox fans would be angry, yes, but this? This is something else. They’re now nine points behind both Aberdeen and Celtic, and that’s tipped them into full-blown meltdown. Any crisis over there works in our favour, and this one is especially helpful.

So, yes, last night we delivered under pressure. Not earth-shattering pressure, mind, but it was pressure nonetheless. And that sort of pressure was too much for the Ibrox club, which collapsed against Kilmarnock and then again last night. They claim to be our closest “challengers” yet can’t handle the heat, while our squad thrives on it.

Why? Because we have a bold leader at the helm.

A man with supreme confidence in himself and in those he leads. That’s why we’ll eventually see off Aberdeen. And that’s why Philippe Clement will be another scalp for Brendan Rodgers, another “challenger” bested, another trophy to hang on the wall.

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6 comments

  • Jay says:

    My only concern from last night is just how poor our reserve wingers are.
    Palma is not good enough, he’s had his chances & was entirely ineffective against Dundee. He shouldn’t be here by the end of January imo.
    Yang showed moments but still not someone I would be comfortable relying on.
    Forrest, it begrudges me to say should either hang his boots up at the end of this season or move to another team. He came on & I didn’t see him take a single player on. Every pass seemed to be backward or across. Even when Midfielders were trying to do 1-2s with him he wasn’t making the run to execute it.
    I’m happy with probably 90-95% of this squad.
    We need a 3rd Striker, LW, RW x2 & a reserve RB for AJ. Then I think we are in a great place.
    Valle has satisfied me that between himself & Taylor (assuming we sort transfer fee & contract respectively) the position is well covered going forward.
    The rest is vital if we want to push to Champions league round of 16 in the coming seasons.

    • woodyiom says:

      Yeh I agree with that Jay. Last night showed that certain “reserves” are only good enough to start in games we are going to win anyway. If we actually needed them to be regulars (say due to injury or suspension) in much tougher games (Europe, Pittodrie, Ibrox lol etc) I wouldn’t be confident at all that they’d be up to the job.

      They’re not of the quality we need for true squad competition so that the player we bring in is as good as the player he replaces but I’m confident Brendan knows this and will look to rectify this as time goes on. Rome wasn’t built in a day and it does nobody any good having mass clear-outs in one window – we only have to look across the city to see that lol!

      • Jay says:

        Yeah just exactly, wouldn’t be looking for them all to be replaced in one window but Palma I think as a priority needs to be moved on either loan or sale.

        I think Rodgers will be able to identify replacements fairly easily & over the next two windows could bring them in with minimal squad disruption.

        At least we know our squad can command good transfer fees. Even though I don’t think Palma will last he is still a good player he just doesn’t fit our system. Like so many of the signings from 2023/24 transfer window

  • Kevcelt59 says:

    Triumph for insomniacs mair like. That game was the football equivalent of Horlicks. We’ve had tae endure this a few times, with teams that hardly venture out their half for the whole game. The result was the main thing and our bench eventually made the difference, tho ye knew after the first 20 mins it was goin tae be a long night. It happens and it’ll happen again.

  • DannyGal says:

    I get that certain back-up players don’t have the quality of the first choices, however even the richest clubs don’t swap out their entire midfields and wingers as Celtic did last night, it’s normally one out one in. I think Sunday’s game v Motherwell was more of a guide, McCowan coming in for the injured McGregor and the team performance not looking too different on the pitch. They should all be fresh for Saturday.

  • Mr Magoo says:

    I think that yang and palma should get the heaveho in January James.

    Especially palma. At one stage he actually beat his man on the outside made it to the byeline then turned back and played the ball to our left back.

    Yang in my opinion is simply not good enough . He is that bad he wouldn’t get a game for the huns

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