So, the team goes to Munich next week without the benefit of the win that would have given us a real shot or the draw that would have given us a good chance. We go on the back of a 2-1 defeat, but it’s a 2-1 defeat about which we should feel no shame. The only real regret is that we didn’t push forward faster and instead waited, again, until we were 2-0 down before we brought our own football to the table.
But it seems such a minor thing to quibble about because we held our own. This wasn’t simply being swatted aside with the ease we’ve seen so many top sides do to us in the past. This is a growing, evolving, improving Brendan Rodgers team we’re watching here. A team capable of playing against top sides, scoring against them, and giving them a bloody good scare. And it helps that we have a group of players, many of whom genuinely look as if they belong at this level.
Naturally, it was Maeda who got the goal. I thought Kuhn’s control and finish for the one that was chopped off in the first minute were phenomenal.
But what stood out most to me wasn’t the attacking play—though that was what I was looking forward to before the game. What I found most interesting, and what I enjoyed the most, was our discipline. Our defensive discipline, our shape, our structure. The lack of panic amongst the players.
This was extremely noticeable against Villa as well.
When we went 2-0 down, we didn’t fall apart as we would have in years gone by. We focused. We realised we were still in the game, that we could turn it around. And we started, ever so steadily, to play the football we know we can. That could have gotten us more than just a narrow defeat last night.
What’s obvious now is that Rodgers is definitely making this team better. He has made us more solid, more stable, more capable at this level.
Obviously, the match in Munich is going to tell us a lot. We’re hoping we don’t suffer a Dortmund-style collapse, but I don’t think we will. This team doesn’t look like it’s going to do that. There’s a new feeling around this side—that we’ve gotten to this place on merit and that we are staying here on merit.
Even some of the club’s fiercest critics—people like Tom English, Ewan Murray, and others who have slaughtered us over bad European results in the past—gave us a lot of credit last night. They were effusive in their praise.
They weren’t claiming we matched the Germans or deserved to beat them, but they recognised that we’re capable now of giving these teams a real game. That we’re no longer seen as an easy pass into the next round.
And that, more than anything, is what Rodgers wanted this season. We fulfilled the principal objective. But the larger goal was to make us credible. To make us look as if we were heading in the right direction and could, one day, prove ourselves a force again. And I think we’ve done that.
Coming out of the game last night, not a single supporter was despondent or angry. Nobody felt the way we felt coming out of the game in Germany last time—sick to the stomach, deflated by what we had watched.
Because Dortmund was a chastening experience.
We went there on the back of one of the best runs of domestic form we’d had in a long time, playing dazzling football, hoping to show we could compete at that level… and we just got massacred. Taken apart.
In the aftermath of that game, Rodgers vowed to carry on regardless, without making any real tactical changes.
I wrote at the time that he was threatening his own legacy, that he was risking his own revolution. That the board had given him so much to spend in the summer because he told them it was needed to reach the next level and that if he didn’t adapt, he was risking the credibility of his entire plan.
Because you can’t take a beating like that and tell people everything is fine. And I thought there were people at the club who would use it against him.
I’m 100% convinced they would have—had he not changed.
But we went to Italy and held a very, very good Atalanta team to a 0-0 draw. That was the first sign of this team’s growing confidence and maturity on this stage. The win against Leipzig cemented the idea that we were moving in the right direction. And although there were some negative responses to the matches against Brugges and then Zagreb away, what I think we showed in those games was the further evolution of Rodgers’ game plan. And last night, I thought it all knitted together very nicely.
We held our defensive shape. We didn’t overexpose ourselves.
We played a very different game than the expansive, beautiful football we play domestically. We tried to be a little cagier, a little smarter. And when we played on the break, we had the players who could damage them.
That’s why I felt it was overwhelmingly positive. Would I have preferred a win? Of course. A draw? Naturally. But we’ve found a blend that will give us a real chance of doing great things next season, once we add a couple more players to tweak this team. And I talked about that last night. We’ll be in a good spot. We’ll have a big opportunity to make the groups again and try to go further next time.
Based on what I watched last night, we have no reason to fear top teams. We have no reason to be overly concerned if we make it to the groups and get a draw that wasn’t quite enough in our favour this time—especially at Celtic Park, where I think we’ve got a great chance of beating anybody.
Yeah, there are still things that aren’t quite right, but both of their goals last night were preventable. It’s not as if we were taken apart. And as long as the goals we concede come from small mistakes rather than just being outclassed, we’ve got a shot.
Without wishing to be too down on any individual player, you’ll see a performance improvement next season just by virtue of having Kieran Tierney at left-back. That will change our dynamic, make us look even more solid. And that’s one of the few areas in the team where you can see we need a little more quality.
On Tuesday, we’ll play this side on their home soil, in their backyard, and that will be a different experience again.
But once Tuesday is over with, we have a domestic treble to win. And we’ll see Rodgers evolve this team again. In certain matches, we’ll see him try new things, new styles. We’ll see him introduce some of the younger players into the side, maybe. And there’s a good chance that will happen once we’ve effectively wrapped things up.
But all of us are going to be thinking ahead to the next campaign—and the next Champions League campaign in particular. Because having shown that we can handle ourselves at this level, having shown that we can fight, take points, and give big teams a fright, we’re only going to want more.
And if this board has any sense, they’ll see not just where we are, but where we could be. And they’ll give this manager the tools to get us there. Because if they do that, he will. And I have no doubt about that anymore.
Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images
The other night we put up our latest podcast. Recorded just after the Ibrox club went crashing out of the cup, we called it They’re Simply Depressed.
I can’t share your enthusiasm James. Yes, we were cagier but at what cost, for we suffered from a lack of effective attacking play, we passed the ball back far too often for my liking and we were outclassed by a much better side. I am not too despondent with the result, for on paper it looks better than what it actually merited. Bayern are on a different level from us and we put no pressure on them until it was too late. Yes, we should also have had a penalty, a stonewaller in my opinion, but Bayern were slicker, faster in their movements and their pressing game was great to watch, they did not leave us much time on the ball at any stage of the game, particularly in the first half when we were so passive in our approach.
Once again, as everyone knows I have no time for Greg Taylor, he showed what a liability he is at this level, being at fault at both the goals we conceded. I will be very happy to finally see him going and I still wonder how a player of his limited ability managed to last this long in a Celtic shirt.
I don’t see us progressing in this tie now, it will be damage limitation in Munich, it’s all over bar the shouting as far as I am concerned, but hopefully we can say later that we were narrowly beaten by the CL winners.
“We were cagier but at what cost?” – I would say that caginess stopped us from being picked off and humiliated like the Dortmund game.
With the penalty, the guy got the ball before Engels foot and I think it would have been a very soft penalty. If it was given against us I would have been spitting feathers.
I don’t know what evidence you have to suggest Taylor is a liability but from what I have seen in his time, he has been solid. Other than two misplaced passes under pressure last night, he did nothing wrong and I think it is wildly harsh to blame him for the first goal. He isn’t KT level but he has been very reliable and has never really cost us in games. He is just missing those extra levels that will take us further in Europe. If we kept him as back up to KT I would be delighted.
There has got to be a happy medium regarding being cautious, you can take it too far and restrict your own attacking prowess in the process. We backtracked far too often and gave them nothing to be concerned about, they had the run of the park and duly took total control of the game. If not getting a pumping is the aim of the game, then we are emulating the teams in our own league who park the bus when they play us. I agree that a gung-ho approach is not the answer, but we have to be braver just the same.
I know what you mean, but I just think no matter what we did last night they were going to have the run of the park for large sections of the game.
I concede we could have been braver with some of our passes. The passes I love to see are forward direct passes to feet even when someone is being marked and trusting our player can control, hold it up or pass again first time rather than play it back. But it’s such fine lines… we lose possession with those passes then they have players who can punish rapidly for it. I still have Dortmund PTSD.
When the game has settled down and players have found their rhythm then those quick forward direct passes can be played more confidently like we saw in 2nd half.
Johnny I know your over the top criticism of GT has been consistent over the the past couple of years, and I accept that KT is a step up in ability and physique, but to blame GT
for the 2nd goal is away over the top. I’m sure that his job wasn’t to mark Kane, if you look at the marking at the corner Trusty and Engels are at the far post and are drawn towards the same Bayern player, leaving Kane completely unmarked.
As for the 1st goal he could probably have done better but was a wee bit unlucky when he intercepted the ball and it broke fortuitously for Olise to hammer a fantastic shot past Schmeichel. l Would like to see GT signing a new contract, and being back up to KT, if he doesn’t and moves on then so be it, He’s been a good servant and a capable player with us, but he’ll not ever play with a team at our level again.
I thought last night we were outclassed in the 1st half but matched them pretty well in the 2nd half. Bayern got the benefit of the two key decisions which weren’t straight forward and came down to interpretation of the laws of the game by the officials. Unluckily for us both decisions went in favour of Bayern.
We’re definitely improving at this level and although it’s not impossible, I think the chances of turning it around in Munich are slim. I’m already looking forward with confidence to the run in of the domestic season and onto the qualifiers for the Big One next season.
Greg Taylor is an easy target, Trusty should have offered him more support for the first, Taylor was unlucky not to win the ball and when the bayern player cut in Trusty wasn’t there. No way Greg Taylor would be marking Kane, too big a height difference, again Trusty as Left CB should have marked him, yes I’m not a fan of Trusty!!
I thought Bayern were very comfortable in the game until Kompany made his substitutions. Taking Sane & Olise off immediately removed a large part of there press. Gnabry & Coman allowed our players more time on the ball which allowed us to build into the game. Musiala was another one who is just phenomenal & seeing him come off for an over the hill Muller even for just 10 minutes gave us more freedom in the game.
Bayern probably should have had us dispatched in the first half but the fact we held out & fought back to a respectable score says a lot.
As Johnny says Greg Taylor is the biggest liability of this team. I would say it is the only position where we have a very noticeable drop down in quality. Brings us back to January & why we didn’t do more to get KT on loan in January. I don’t think the first goal happens if it’s KT at LB.
Even when we made out substitutions they looked more comfortable at this level. I thought Schlupp looked very good & has picked up our style very quickly.
Also I think Yang was excellent. The fact he came on ahead of Kenny has me thinking Rodgers sees a real player in there & his direct runs caused Bayern all sorts of problems.
Jota was also great when he came on. I thought Maeda was poor, maybe a little jaded from playing the full game against Raith with no expectation of playing midweek. He was better once he was moved into the middle which I never thought I’d say. Neur & the backline of Bayern will be nervous of him. On another day he’d have caught then 2 or 3 times.
We should also have had a pen. I thought the ref was pretty poor the entire night. Several poor calls on GK/Corners. Every 50/50 seemed to go against us & he was determined to find a reason to not give the pen. I don’t care that the defender got the ball, he stomped on our players foot on the follow through. They get given every day of the week. He seemed to give calls to the team on top as immediately once we were attacking them toward the end we started getting free kicks. Even when CalMac handballed it & was using his gamesmanship to hold up Bayern taking a quick free kick only to realise the ref had given us the free kick.
We can have a go in Munich but I do think Bayern will just be too good. However this is the first season of this new model & it has shown us to be able to compete with the best. This needs to give the board the kick up the arse to back this manager in the summer because we could make a real go with 3 top quality additions.
Overall the team should be proud of the effort they put in last night, everyone put a shift in (even if GT is just not good enough he gives 100%) the players can hold their heads up & have some belief they can at least land a few punches on Bayern next Tuesday.
Bayern have a tougher game this weekend than we do, so hopefully they are maybe a little more jaded than we are next week. A good performance & result against Dundee United where we will likely be playing against 11 in the box will give us good confidence for Tuesday.
I’ve no complaints with the first goal, the guy got a bit of luck to get by Taylor and the strike was unstoppable, the 2nd goal is criminal, absolutely awful. I think it was Engels who left Kane but to give Harry Kane that much space and time in our box is embarrassing. It wasn’t a penalty, the guy clearly got the ball first. A 2-1 defeat isn’t a disaster, I just felt we could have done better
I thought the rule was that if you took the man and the ball then it was still a penalty despite winning the ball first? Or has that rule changed now?
This was my thought also
No, you’re right but the official ruling was “he played the ball in a fair manner” not all contact in the box is a penalty but you could argue he risked injuring the opponent which would be a foul. Not for me, I didn’t think it was reckless or dangerous and don’t think it was a penalty.
Bayern are a class act but we were still only a stonewall penalty away from a draw.
Pity their best player Olise was up against our weakest defender Taylor.
Marking at Kane’s goal was criminal.
Celtic have to score first to have any chance in Germany.
Proud of my club.
Very mature and disciplined performance. I believe that in seasons gone by we would have went gung ho and got picked of like flies resulting in a 5-0 thrashing, or worse. I would love to get to a point where we are expected to win games last night but we need to be realistic and I think most are.
My hope for last night was to give a good account of ourselves and play with maturity and have no regrets. The players can try learn from the harshness of switching off for a fraction of a second against elite teams but they shouldn’t beat themselves up too much about it.
We have enhanced our reputation significantly in this campaign so far. I hope we can give an equally mature and disciplined performance next week then enjoy the rest of the season.
JF — I think your view of last night comes from the last 25 minutes not the whole game.
Overall we have a huge amount of work to do — the talent is there but the confidence / game smarts / coaching / team set up needs a huge amount of work.
First 45 — we invented a new game called touch football where tackling and physical presence are not allowed. We just stood off them and let them play any way they wanted.
First goal was a bit of a worldie — poor defending but some strike to the point that did he contact with valve when he took the shot. One replay seemed to suggest a very strange trajectory.
Second goal was men against boys stuff — they played their corner “Joker” as in a cavalry charge to the front post leaving HK all alone at the back. Looked horrible in real time and even worse in the replays.
Worst part about the game was our change in attitude after the second goal.
Them — one step back / Us — two steps forward.
Result — BM collapsed.
It was as if the pressure we were playing under — competitive game with a big team — just disappeared and we started to play with some belief. BR will have won a watch if he can persuade the team to play like that from the off.
Penalty farrago — the Schumacker defence was doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Yes I touched the ball so you can overlook the 4 broken ribs / the 3 missing teeth / the two days in intensive care.
As noted by many the ref was at best star struck / at worst working a set agenda.
BM player touched the ball but he did not control it or influence its trajectory in any meaningful way so it was open play / loose ball.
He then stood on AE’s foot aggressively / excessive force so he fouled him on two levels.
Potential injury and stopped him going for the loose ball.
Ref was so bad that VAR did not look into the DM goal with any conviction.
Potential offside was just waved away at light speed.
Overall — we missed a great chance to get a draw.
BM are not vintage and looked rattled when we went onto the front foot.
The fear is our biggest problem — both the squad and the support were overwhelmed.
Got home about midnight last night, after what was a long day, which probably applies to most of us, that went to the game straight from work !
I’ve not watched any highlights from the game, to get a better look at the contentious moments, so can only comment on my viewpoint from the stands !
As we all knew, Bayern were a huge step up in class, from what we experience on a domestic level, and therein, I suppose, lies the conundrum, which I’ll come to later.
Their movement and pressing was outstanding, and we did well to stay with them and maintain our defensive discipline. To lose the first goal, at the time we did, was so, so disappointing. At half time some one said to me that it took a deflection off Taylor, but I just thought it was a bad goal to lose.
Similarly, losing a second, so early in the second half, made a difficult task, seem almost impossible, and the fear was, we’d implode and lose another few.
Credit to our team, that they kept going and that we managed to get a goal back, and were seemingly denied a penalty. ( Again, I’ll hopefully get a chance to see some highlights later!)
The disappointment that I feel, and maybe others share, is that to keep on progressing, and hopefully surmount challenges like Bayern, is that we have to keep improving the product ON the park!
Yes, of course we are a well run club, in the fullest and business sense of things, but I think this is where some, ( or maybe a lot more,) of our fanbase, don’t get it.
For the foreseeable future, we are tied to the Scottish league and the obvious financial disparity, in comparison to the major footballing leagues/countries.
Within our league, we yearn for an increase in standards at ALL clubs, and tougher challenges from teams like Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd et al. This also includes vastly improved standards in the governance and running of our game.
Will we ever see that, god only knows!
It is imperative, if we want to keep attracting better players, managers and coaches, that would ultimately help us improve in Europe and have a go at the vastly richer clubs.
People like to have a go at our club for the riches we have and the same financial disparity arguments are levelled at us in the SPL.
However we can only look after ourselves, whilst others ( most notably Sevco) continue to fall into the basket case category.
We have earned our riches, and that demonstrates that we are, fiscally, a well run club.
Nevertheless, I return to the point that I’ve made on here several times, about continually strengthening.
Some will never criticise the board, because of the profits we make and the cash in the bank.
Last night showed that we still have a way to go to bridge the European gap, despite a lot of positives from the game.
Bottom line, give our manager what he deserves, keep improving our team with more quality and we will continue to see big improvements on this stage.
As usual, it is over to our board and how they view, MOST IMPORTANTLY, the long term objectives ON the park, not off it !
Apologies for the long read folks, but in a long winded way, I just wanted to share, that I’m delighted with how our manager and players have progressed…but I, like I’m sure, plenty of others, want a sustained progression in Europe, not a temporary one.
The only way to do that is continued squad development and quality! HH
After we had our early goal chopped, Munich relaxed and ye could see they were a very good side. Tho would’ve been interestin tae see what transpired if it had stood. Considerin the opposition, with the quality and speed they have especially up front, ah think we had tae show caution. Imo we played them the right way and tae lose that goal 20 seconds from HT was a real kick in the guts. Ah thought after we went 2 down we still responded well and in the end, showed that we can score against them. And btw ah think Hetate shouldve done a lot better with the chance that fell tae him. Hindsights a great thing and we possibly couldve had more joy, if we were a bit more forward thinkin. Theres an arguement for both cases. One thing tho, ah expect them tae be a different team over there and we’ll have tae be on our game.
AH James, not a mention of how wed have fared had we brought in a new striker. As I said last week, I thought Maeda would do fine and I was more worried about the defense’s lack of awareness/inability to read the game at times. And so it proved to be. Maeda scored and the defense went missing, not for the first time this season. 1-1 would have been a really good result.
Great article as always James,for me,will we ever be able to build a team with European pedigree,our model is to buy talent,develop them and move them on at a profit.
All good but how can the manager maintain that pedigree under our model,we need to promote youth if possible as its very difficult as the pathway to first team is non existent due to lack of good games outwith first team,we can be a Feyenoord, Bruges,PSV etc if we can find a way of keeping players here as we also need to buy ready made experience in the 10 million bracket, the future will tell if the board has the same ambition as the rest of us.
The squad have little full on / front rank experience outside of the SPL and it is hurting us at every level — physical / emotional / intellectual.
We look like Bash Street Comp on University Challenge.
MF is our biggest weakness / challenge.
CMcG is over the hill and far away — hide and seek champion apart from the 15 minutes he remembers his past and moves forward.
AE is like Bambi at a Hells Angel convention — scared fartless with no physical presence whatsoever.
RH has had the spark / the creativity coached out of him — he is now rationing his effort so that he can last 90 minutes. Jogged through the whole of the first half so that he can burst a gut in the last 15.
Plus PB is not developing with us — only 2 good starts — and LMcC needs time to mature to the next level plus we have no-one else to help out. Where is the new Aaron Mooy when we needed him last night?
Huge gaps that need work — lazy January window did not help either.
Watched the brief highlights there and the contentious decisions are certainly open to varying interpretation and opinion !
Our goal in 25 secs…would it have stood if Bayern had scored it ?
Their first goal …I’ve always believed that one of our centre backs should provide cover when fb is isolated 1-1! Taylor was unfortunate that his interception broke back to their player, but some finish ! I don’t think big Kasper even got a touch of the ball on the way out lol!
The second goal is just awful marking at a set piece and it defies belief that you leave Kane unmarked !
The foul on Engels, for me, should have been a penalty! Anywhere else on the field of play it’s a free kick and potential yellow card!
Good but expected save from Johnston’s shot as we looked for the equaliser !
Again, I’m not looking for excuses, but I thought the ref , like the YB’s game, was pretty dreadful !
Overall, the better team won, but with a bit of good luck and/or more competent officiating, we could have gotten the draw or something even better.
Again, it doesn’t disguise that we should have strengthened in January, to have a real go at this, rather than being content with just being in the knockout phase.
The superlative feeling, experience and atmosphere, that these nights bring, should ensure we never rest on our laurels !
If we have any semblance of ambition, these nights could get even better!!!
Only my opinion, of course ! HH
I think we need to know our place in the food chain in this formerly yet still rigged tournament called The ‘Champions’ League…
Formerly rigged as the league stage was an open draw on this occasion –
Still rigged as teams like Aston Villa are competing in a so called Champions ?? League…
1-2 is not too shabby v The Might of Bayern Munich…
Probably about correct on the balance of play over 90 minutes !
I’m not blaming GT as it’s not his fault in any way, but he doesn’t doesn’t belong at CL level. Every opponent does their homework and target GT’s area as where they’ll get the most joy, a strategy that’s proved correct time after time. You need a LB who is as strong, tactically, technically, mentally and physically as the RB, or you’re going to hinder any chance of progress until it changes. If the board had delivered a LB and CF during the window, then it would have been a different result.
Even without that, if BR had started with Shluppe and Jota instead of GT and AI, it may still have been a different result. Adam gave everything and was not to blame, but his naivety and adrenaline stopped him from realising he needed to get out of the way of NK’s strike. That would never happen with an experienced striker. Also as an ex fullback like Johnny, you’re not leaving HK free in your area of the pitch to score that goal.
If all of that is old school, then the penalty is a stonewaller in new school. You see it every week, doesn’t matter if you get the ball first, if you then stamp on the player’s foot it’s a penalty, which Bayern would undoubtedly have been awarded. If not, does that mean if the defender gets the ball first and then breaks the attacker’s leg, then it’s no pen and no yellow or red card? No I didn’t think so!
I think the penalty decision had a bit of big/small team about it in the ref’s unconscious bias – can think of no other reason given that VAR saw enough to ask him to take a look.
There was a point in the 2nd half where we had an overlapping LB opportunity but the ball was played backwards when if the situation had developed on the right I’m sure AJ would have galloped down the wing…
The fact that we are a little disappointed tells its own story. Still, I think we are in a better position than Man City for going through.
Key for me is how the players view this competition and what it means for the attractiveness of clubs like our own (Club Bruges, PSV, etc). Do we become more attractive than mid tier premier league clubs who will never be able to offer the experience of 8-12 UCL games a season? Will it allow players to get their “big move” directly from Celtic rather than stepping stone clubs like Brentford and Crystal Palace (and dare I say Brighton)? In parallel do we need to recalibrate our wage structure – not to go mad but to make players consider the total package more carefully?