Former Republic of Ireland captain Richard Dunne has called for Ange Postecoglou and his team to be more pragmatic when approaching Champions League football. Celtic signed off their European campaign this year with another defeat; losing heavily to the current Champions Real Madrid 5-1.
Hoops boss Postecoglou has never concealed his desire to play a certain brand of football. One that gets the blood flowing that bit quicker, but that can also have you pulling your hair out if it doesn’t work well enough. It’s safe to say the performances this season have not been matched by results nor outcomes. Unfortunately we find ourselves out altogether and on our lowest tally of points ever.
Dunne feels this formula is not the best way to go about our business on the continent, reckoning that pragmatism must be adhered to if the pursuit of knockout phase football in the top club competition in the world is to prove a fruitful endeavor. He said: “For Celtic to progress they have to realise the level that they are at compared to the real top sides in Europe, as reported by Glasgow Times.
“Maybe they have to go and soak up a bit of pressure to try and defend as a team rather than turning games into basketball games with this end-to-end all the time. The bigger sides will do what Real Madrid did to them. For the manager it’s a case of ‘this was a learning step’ this season and now they know they can’t do this again.
“Inevitably they’ll get a lot of supporters, applause and plaudits for that stuff but they won’t get through the group.They’ve done it their way this season but now they have to adjust from the league in to the Champions League next year.”
The former Aston Villa man is not the first and certainly won’t be the last to advocate that Celtic do what Scottish teams have done historically and manage the game to see what happens. Ange Postecoglou is trying to promote a cultural change at Celtic Park and that will take time. It won’t be happening straight away. That much is obvious from last night and the five games previously played.
However, everyone is on board with Postecoglou and his vision, as evidenced in the after-match performance of Ciao Bella by the travelling supporters, which you can watch and read about here. No, Richard Dunne and others of this persuasion are misunderstanding the point: Celtic are on a journey of growth at this level and aren’t anywhere near the finished article.
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The output and expected goals haven’t matched up as they should have, but our performces have merited far more than what we have gotten in the end up. Chris Sutton pointed to the naivety in our play at certain times that has cost us. That is undeniable and as fair a point as you’ll hear. Having said that, Sutton is also aware of the unifying nature that Ange Postecoglou has running through this side and the wider club at the moment.
Pragmatism may provide some short term gains on occasion however, what our current incumbent in the Celtic hot seat is trying to achieve may take years yet. It will be an evolving process and we will get better each time until we are in a position where we feel comfortable mixing it at that level on a regular basis.
Short term pain, long term gain is what is on offer with Angeball.
I’m in. Are you?
Paul Gillespie
