Britain Football Soccer - Aberdeen v Celtic - Scottish League Cup Final - Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland - 16/17 - 27/11/16 Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers Reuters / Russell Cheyne EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Last night The Boss got his tactics wrong, and if he’s serious and suggesting that he won’t change it then the criticisms are going to continue to come and their tenor is going to reach fever pitch. Remember; we are graded in a different school, and by a different standard, than the Ibrox club is in Europe. That’s the one criticism I won’t permit; those who suggest that they have unlocked some magic formula which eludes us.
But they do one thing differently; they approach Europe in a different way than we do. They are more careful. They play a more balanced game. Their approach is a lot less cavalier. It is chronic to watch them at times; I am frequently amazed to hear the media praise them as if they were brilliant in some of these games. They sometimes get results though, although I would remind people that they aren’t playing teams on the same level as we are and in the last campaign where they did they were dismantled.
Still, I am convinced that there is a middle ground between their death-to-the-eye variant and what Rodgers attempted to do last night which, if I had to describe it, was a bizarre attempt to treat Dortmund like St Johnstone or some other SPFL level side. This was the team who got to the Champions League final last year; we owed them the respect of treating them that way, on their own home ground.
It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to suss that the football which destroys domestic opposition and which should be good enough to play in a couple of our remaining home games – not, though, against RB Leipzig who would probably love nothing more – will not work against elite sides. They don’t even play that way against each other; Madrid were far less open in last year’s final than we tried to be last night … it was lunacy. As a one-off experiment you might be less concerned.
But this is how Rodgers intends to keep trying to play at this level, and I don’t question the wisdom of that as much as I do the sanity of it. To be blunt; I think that’s crazy. We’re virtually guaranteeing another bad night in Bergamo and inviting a similar disaster at Aston Villa. We’ll be gambling with qualification against RB Leipzig at home.
The high press last night exposed the defence to their runners. It was a disaster and it was clear that it was going to be a disaster from the moment they scored their second goal. At that point you knew what was in front of us; a long night and probably a severely chastening one. The manager could have prevented it by changing our approach. He persisted with it until half-time until the damage was well and truly done.
This isn’t about personnel either, although a team with Scales and Taylor in it, when we know those guys were murdered last season at this level, is asking for trouble. No, this is more serious even than that. The gaping holes all over the pitch last night were about the coaching choices and the setup; we could have signed a better left back and a better centre half and the gap between the midfield and the defence would still have been like sending them crawling out on the limb and then merrily sawing it behind them.
Everyone knows I love Rodgers. Everyone knows how highly I rate him. He’s like Ange though; he appears wedded to an idea of how to play which he won’t alter. There’s a streak of arrogance in him as there is in a lot of top leaders and he is convinced that his own ideas are right. But his record in Europe, across his managerial career, suggests that he needs a radical re-think on that score for his benefit and ours.
My thing is, I’m a pragmatist when it comes to this stuff. I would have loved to see us go and play spellbinding football last night and shock them; Europe is not the place for that, not for us, not for a team at our level. We all love our players; our resources are modest compared to those sorts of teams and we should know it and respect it.
This is not the playing field for idealism. It’s the one place a Celtic manager will be forgiven and hailed a hero for a scrappy win where we frustrate the opposition and hit them with a sucker punch. Before we can restore our confidence we have to restore our reputations. Right now, it’s our reputation that’s in the toilet and I don’t care how Rodgers goes about starting to put the pieces of that back together; all I know is that he better start and this talk of keeping the same failed approach doesn’t inspire confidence at all.
ISA do this in the pub last night and got slaughtered. 1 We can’t play against the top teams like this
2 claim is a legend but completely exposed at this level as an anchor midfielder. He needs to play further forward and we need to spend some of our 100m on a defensive midfielder.
3 Oil friends at Ibrox beat Dortmund two years ago over two legs and have shown last 4 years or so to be way more savvy in Europe. Rodgers has presided on two 6 goals and now two 7 goal hammerings. Ironically Lennon knew how to set against even Barca at their best and not lose 6. He must change or we continue to be a joke.
Well Said
Why can’t we in Scotland compete technically with the top clubs in Europe? Why are they so far ahead of us ? Are we such a backwater country as far as producing top level players on a regular time frame that they cannot be coached and trained to contend with the rest , with few exceptions ? All part of the overall production of Scottish football. Celtic FC has outgrown Scotland and is a major factor in receiving 1-7 hammerings when playing against teams 3 levels better than our domestic football opposition ..with respect ! Because until the time comes when we are playing technically proficient teams every week in a more competitive league other than the SPFL , last night’s drubbing will occur again and again and again ….and again !
This is a much better way to look at things than to highlight Taylor and Scales as sub standards in a mucky mess of a muddle.
I hate to say it but I am in complete agreement that that lot across the city have a better European setup and mindset than us.
Perhaps it’s because they’re more rehearsed in it because they play that way domestically too. Boring but methodical and because the rest of the league is rank they eventually create more and overcome them. We demand a more attackingly exciting watch at a domestic level but it’s not any good at a European, particularly CL, level.
Unless we’re able to coach, train and adapt our game from one style of play to another depending on the competition we’re playing in, which quite evidently we are not, then maybe we as Celtic fans need to have a serious chat with ourselves about what we want and are willing to accept. I genuinely don’t believe we can do both.
A change in our style domestically that can be utilised to better prepare us for the European arena or domestic dominance and European flops in the big boys league? Or accept we’re a lower to mid Europa League level team, and accept we’re better off out of the CL. That’s now what der hun has accepted. For now anyway! The proof will be if Brendan learns some lessons, changes our style, structure and system and actually gets some results. I’d love to be proved wrong but… we’ll see.
My one major reservation to a change of style domestically is that the way we currently play does allow us to continually smash der hun and with some pleasurable feel good swagger.
Hi James I read your blog daily but I don’t want to hear anymore claptrap
about Rodgers being an elite manager or McGregor being world class they are both out of their depth at this level as has been proven time and again McGregor looked like a wee boy in the big boys playground and Rodgers had no clue how to change things we will dominate in Scotland for as long as we wish to but that’s where it ends
Our left and right backs were exposed all night.
They were constantly five to ten yards further up the park than the centre half’s.
Taylor had his poorest game in a long time giving the ball away in dangerous positions.
He wasn’t alone in that either: McGregor was poor on the night, Engels gave away the penalty, Maeda inexplicably, Schmeichel beaten for the third goal at his near post, Maeda gave the ball away for a goal, Kyogo was abandoned up top.
I thought Scales played well in a Custer’s last stand sort of way.
Idah missed a golden chance.
Against these elite teams, we need to be more rigid and harder to get through.
Last night should be a lesson learned. Let’s see how we set up against the Italians in Bergamo in a few weeks.
It can be hard tae get games tactically correct in Europe. Tho there will be games, where even your average football minded fan, will recognise where common sense should be used instead of bravado and last night was one of them. Just a shame our manager didn’t. This is a group, where ah definitely think in the remainin games, we’ve still a chance in doin well. If he continues tae be stubborn and puts ego before common sense and we end up humiliated and embarrassed by the end of this campaign, he’ll have a lot tae answer for. He, as a manager should recognise the games where we should play a far more cautious game and the one’s where we can be more aggressive. It’s down tae him.
Agree with all of that. I know the win against Barca in 2012 is an unparalleled beacon of light and hope for this century, and we can’t keep harping back to it, but there are many lessons to be learned from that match. We were playing the best club side in the world. Six of the 14 players who took the field for them had won the World Cup, and add Jordi Alba to that who had been part of the 2012 Euros’ win (and scored in final). Then garnish that lot with Messi, then the best in the world, Alexis Sanchez and Dani Alves, also world class. Alex Song and Javier Mascherano were also not too shabby. Goalie Victor Valdes and a young centre-back called Bartra, replaced later by Pique, were the relatively uncelebrated players. We had Izzy, Broonie, Hooper and Stokes out, and Matthews had to play left-back alongside Efe and Kelvin Wilson. It was a miracle. We defended as though our lives depended on it, and – a masterstroke by Lennon – we played with Charlie Mulgrew and Sammy in the wide positions in a five-man midfield, which meant we could hit them with long diagonals and occasionally, they kept the ball or found a team-mate with the touch. What would Barcelona have done to us if we’d have Efe and Kelvin playing out from the back? What would we do to Ross County if they came down to Glasgow and played 4-3-3 and played out from the back? There is no shame in digging in and scrapping for a result against the elite, and if Rodgers can find some humility, that’s how we’ll play against Atalanta, Villa and RB Leipzig. How many absolute humpings can any group of players take before it effects their confidence? Rodgers’ approach actually threatens our whole season not just the length of our stay in Europe.
We needed a CL quality LB, CH and CM in the transfer window, at the very least, we got none.
Bernardo and Engels are great prospects.
I really hope BR has learned from this.
He didn’t when we shipped 6 or 7 before…
It’s difficult to see how someone who operates in this manner over successive years can be considered an “elite” manager.
Greg Taylor has not been good enough for Celtic since the day he first arrived James, and you are just realising that now? He has been our weakest link since he signed and while I do get the wholehearted effort argument, that is not enough to warrant him being in the side and it never has been. Our defence and midfield were shown up last night, we were outfought, out manoeuvred and totally outclassed. Back to the drawing board for Brendan and back to reality for the rest of us. We are nowhere near being a great side, but we still love them and we will still support them 100% forever.
I would always prefer to see my team lose trying to win rather than lose trying not to but sometimes we need to get real. We are too used to SPFL sides parking the bus, giving room to shuffle the ball about at the back between players who either fail to or cannot find a forward pass. Not seen much of Trusty but he relies too much on his left foot for a playing right side centre back. We have pace up front which might be better used from a defensive formation rather than a gung – ho approach and am not sure that Calmac is best suited to DM. The amount of centre backs bought recently is worrying as none seem good enough then they buy Trusty. Just hope that this is just one of those games and we get things sorted.
Here’s an alternate view of last night to consider.
Whatever formation we went with last night we were likely going to lose, Dortmund were right at it and they are better than us.
Going with out ‘usual’ formation might have been better than trying to play a totally different way with the same personnel. Our players are not cut out to play a defensive game.
At least playing the same way as usual everyone knew what was required.
However, to my viewing, the players pooped their drawers after that second goal and we stopped playing as a team and started doing stuff out with the game plan.
This meant pressing as individuals rather than collectively which is ineffective and leaves us exposed, and boy were we exposed.
So, in summary, it wasn’t necessarily the tactics that cost us but the fear and trepidation that got into what is a fairly inexperienced team at this level.
That’s still something that Brendan needs to address of course so he’s not off the hook but it’s a different way to look at things.
Well said, you make some real valid points.
Hi James, Absolutely spot on. As mad as it seems after the St Johnstone rout. My heart sank when I heard the team last night. Last seasons champions league runners up, had people conveniently forgot that. It,s a squad game and players will expect to be dropped from time to time. Should,ve been a 4-5-1 last night with Idah up front, hatate included and possibly forrest as well instead of Maeda. Love the guy in a Celtic jersey and been playing out of his skin this season but last night shoudn,t have been so gung ho. Still think the only damage done though was to our pride. Still feel we will qualify which is all that. We would hope for. As Callum said after the game, have the 3 points that we expected to be at just now
James
Scales for me was ok last night but the most worrying thing from the game was it could very easily been 10 or 12 against us…..(Kasper ok too)
A score like that would have been something we would never live down and I mean never.
With that in mind BR has to change the approach in these away games…. to say he won’t is very worrying.
Sadly Being Stubborn is a Flay in Brendan , Managerial Makeup.
Sorry Meant to say Flaw.
There is at least two different problems with us playing in the Champions League,
Firstly is Brendan Rodgers inability to learn from previous disasters he himself caused, and he won’t change formation or tactics, whether he’s tactically naive or just plain stubborn is up for debate.
Secondly is the obvious lack of quality in key positions in the team we’ve all been banging on about for what seems like years now, left back and central defence is where we’re mostly targeted by savvy teams who know to well our glaring weaknesses,
On a positive note I’m still optimistic we can maybe get to the knockout round this season HH
You seem surprised. I couldn’t see where all the optimism and confidence was coming from. From skelping Falkirk, St Johnstone, and a dismal Slovan Bratislava?
I’m surprised you were caught up in it all.
There is certainly a middle ground. I feel that the “big” team away match has to be a lot tighter at least in the first 20 minutes that we were yesterday. Dortmund could have won the Champions league last year and are a top-class team. Trying to press them wasn’t working and that would be time to say let them play to the halfway line then we will start defending as two blocks with Daizen Maeda ready for the quick break out. This is one to learn form and move on from quickly. I understand what Rogers is saying. If we park the bus, we will still likely lose say 2-0 so he feels we ought to try and play. Seems when we do that we get thrashed by the bigger teams in Europe. I think we need to adjust the approach for the top end team and be more expanise with those more like us.
Our form in the SPFL foolishly lulled some of the supporters, and I admit I was one of them, into thinking we could run Dortmund close and maybe even get a draw out of the game.
How wrong was that? talk about letting your heart rule your head, But I do think that our manager and coaching staff should have had a better idea of the strength of the opposition.
Surely they’ve been studying footage of them since the draw was made and noted the pace of their front men especially Adeyemi, To go out with such an open style of play against this team at their home ground was committing football suicide.
BR is obviously a good manager, but he is also a bit of a purist and seems to think his team can pass their way to success from back to front, against the top teams in Europe.
Brendan it’s not on, we need a plan A,B and C, we might not like it but these teams are shopping for talent in football Harrod’s whilst we’re shopping in the football M&S and most of the other Scottish clubs are rummaging around the football charity shops.
BR has the rest of the campaign in Europe to restore some of our reputation, carry on with the naivety of last night clearly isn’t good enough.
Great piece. I was there, in with the BVB fans and their apologies and pity for me as the goals rolled in was the worst part of the night. I love Rodgers but our worst ever European results have been on his watch. He won’t learn and he’ll go the same way in Bergamo with the same outcome. Unforgivable.