Brendan Rodgers reflects on that difficult night in the Westfalenstadion with the Celtic manager dismissing the notion that there should be an overhaul to his approach to these games when coming up against top quality opposition in the Champions League…
“I don’t feel anything. I’m not really bothered, that’s my honest answer,” Brendan said at his media conference yesterday afternoon. “You can’t turn a tap on and off. I think if you analyse the game, you’ll see that we were trying to press the game in the static position and fall back into shape. That wasn’t to the level that we wanted on the evening.
“We play how we play, it’s the same plaudits that are commending our performances over the last number of months that allow us to get into this game with this incredible optimism that we can get a result,” Brendan Rodgers said.
“You can’t just turn the tap back off and say to play super defensive. It’s just not how we play. So what do we do? Sit back and have 15% of the ball and lose 3-0? 4-0? We’ve seen teams over six months that come to us and sit back and play five at the back or 4-5-1 with no chance to attack.
“Or, do you play how you play, but know that the mistakes you’ve got to sharpen your teeth in and you’ve got to be brighter and make quicker movements to close space? All these things are part of the learning process.
“I’d much rather do that and go down with my own vision than listen to someone saying that who has never coached a game in their life or played, or whatever. I respect the opinion, but I don’t listen to it and never have,” the Celtic manager added.
Rodgers understands that if his side can manage to eradicate those mistakes and get those tweaks right, then Celtic can actually be competitive in the Champions League against the elite sides.
“That’s the challenge. Like I said, I’m not a dreamer. We want to be competitive and I think we showed in our first game that if we’re at that level and do everything right then we have an opportunity.
“There are going to be games that are a challenge for us, but we’ll do our best to get the results that we want. We’ll be judged at the end of January and we’ll see where the points total takes us, but I have a real belief in the group, and how they’ve been working,” Brendan said.
“It was a sore one the other night, but like I said there’s lots of critique around it and how you play. That’s never bothered me, we have a way of working, that same way that excites supporters and has got them really excited.
“We’ll continue on that path, but you know and I know that we’ll bounce back to an even stronger position than we were before the game. Why? Because we’ll learn from it,” Brendan explained.
The Celtic manager also explained how he goes about lifting the players’ spirits after a night like that.
“I think it’s a reassurance with all of the players. I’m quite open with it, it’s not something we hide behind and pretend that it never happened. We speak about it and talk through it. The job of course is to stay calm and keep your poise and talk the boys through it. It’s learning and growth, and it’s horrible at the time,” Rodgers admitted.
“When you’re in that environment and you’re a player, then that’s the challenge, but this group has real resilience. We can lose games, but we’ll have a great resilience. That’s a mark of this team, we showed it last season and we will show it again this season.
“We will just stay on the path that we are on. We believe in how we work and play, and we learn from games like the other night against top opposition,” the Celtic manager concluded.
Watch Brendan’s full media conference from yesterday afternoon at Lennoxtown below…
Hindsight after the event, makes it very easy to be critical, when the results aren’t to our liking?
Yet if we totally changed our approach, that’s been so successful beforehand, then the question would have been why change our approach, especially if we suffered a big defeat?
We are a team that operates far better on the front foot, than trying to play on the back foot?
We got the basics of our game horribly wrong in dortmund, and been the only time it has been so far this season?
But we also looked like a team not properly prepared for the challenge in dortmund, but hardly surprising when no real preparation time was available to ourselves, for such a challenge dortmund presented?
Personally don’t believe Rodgers had to much options available, but to stick with what had been so successful for ourselves beforehand imo?
Now how Rodgers intends to tackle the next round within the CL, especially with a huge match with the sheep beforehand, trip to atalanta, then away to murderwell, is a very challenging week of fixtures to overcome, and this off the back of an international break, with so many of our squad away?
So where is the actual time, to totally overhaul our approach in these CL away games?
There simply isn’t, yet a few tweaks will still be potentially required, whether that involves the players used, improvements within the basics of our own game, etc etc is yet to be determined, but certainly not expecting any wholesale changes in Italy regardless imo?
As things could possibly stand, there could be a decision as to which actually is the bigger of the next 2 games coming up for ourselves?
Which in turn, could well effect team selection also?
Especially as we looked very leggy in dortmund, after putting so much into the st Johnston match beforehand?
So is going so strong within an SPFL match before a huge CL match, really the best preparation for the higher quality opposition, going forward?
Easy to answer the questions after the event, not so easy to be making them beforehand all the same?
Isn’t that why Rodgers gets the big bucks to be making them?
Rubbish! Pressing a team with 10x our wage bill is dumb.
Cal Mac should have sat in front of defensive back four and let wide mids run wings. Hatate box to box and Engles in creative role.
Hit them on transition with Khun Maeda and Kyogo.
That is only utilising the players we had.
We may (probably) still got beat but I wouldn’t have been the utter embarrassment it turn out to be.
If you can’t just fall into defensive mode then don’t bother playing in Champions league.
If our team is getting battered, you need to be able, as a manager to stop the bleeding.
Not just Europe, time and again over the last few years Sevco have had long periods between our defence and midfield. If they had any half decent goal scorers, we would be in trouble time and again.
I’m sick to death of centre halves that get turned multiple times in a game, barely win anything in the air and are way too slow. Add to that a left back that tries his heart out but is woeful defensively.
Since Van Dijk and Denayer departed we have not had a centre half with a clue. Hell Trusty even makes Boyata and Ambrose look good.
Ange has never thought about the defence in his career and neither has Rodgers, that’s why he only had a 50% win ratio and no silverware with Liverpool and had to run away to Leicester during his last spell here when he dropped so many points we were out if the contest before December.
Everyone from Desmond to Rogers and the board need to go or this will never change.
Amazing we can win the league in a canter but it feels the club is rotting from the head down like it did in the 90s.
Winning the league is not enough, we need to be able to get into round of 16 in European competitions or at least go out with our heads held high, not getting thrashed.
Most companies have KPIs for their employees, getting out of group stages should be minimum standard at Celtic or managers, board members and scouts should have to show just cause why they shouldn’t be sacked.