The Celtic family has been in a bit of turmoil over the last few days, mainly stemming from defeat in the League Cup on Sunday, which has ended our chances at another shot at a treble during the very first weeks of the season.
Exiting the cup was certainly a hammer blow to us all, yet for most of us it was the manner of the defeat that has caused most concern. I could write multiple articles about how that game was officiated and I completely understand those who are rightly furious that yet again questionable refereeing has been to our detriment but instead I want to focus on what has gone wrong so far in this new era under Brendan Rodgers.
Firstly let me say this, we are literally a couple of weeks into the new season under a new manager so I have to disagree with some of the most vocal in our support who seem to think we are on the road to ruin already.
I myself have plenty of concerns but at the end of the day the season has only begun and the end of the transfer window is still over a week away so the manager still has plenty of time to bring in the type of ‘game changers’ he so obviously needs. I know a lot of our fans aren’t happy about our transfer strategy during this summer but I still believe we will see a fair bit of movement before the transfer window shuts. Again I could write plenty regarding our business model but that isn’t what I want to focus on in this article.
What I really want to talk about is what we have seen so far this season on the pitch, the place that really matters, and I have to say I definitely have my concerns. I know some will say never look back but that is exactly where I want to start. For me personally, the past two seasons under our former manager Ange Postecoglou have probably been my favourites as a fan since the heady days under Martin O’Neill, and I’ll tell you why. I absolutely loved the style of football we played under the Australian.
I have to go back to my young days of watching the three amigos star under Tommy Burns to remember a team that gave me so much joy in pure footballing terms. Ultimately we didn’t achieve much in those days against a Rangers side throwing money around like confetti but I loved watching our attacking style back then.
We have had many great teams who have gone on to achieve things such as European finals under O’Neill, Champions League last 16’s under Strachan and a Invincible season under Rodgers the first time around but I can’t remember enjoying watching any of those teams as much as I enjoyed how Ange demanded his team play the game.
We only have to look down South to see how much the Spurs fans are already enjoying life under our former manager. I’m good friends with a Tottenham fan and after mocking his love for Ange this weekend after the majority of his fellow Spurs fans never wanted him when he first came in, he said to me that he is just glad to watch exciting football again after years of boring stuff under Conte and Mourinho. I totally get it. Once Ange got up and running at Celtic I felt exactly the same.
When the Australian came in we had just endured two years of Neil Lennon’s brand of football which most of us would agree wasn’t so easy on the eye. But even before that, under our current manager Brendan Rodgers, it wasn’t great viewing.
Yes, when he came in that first year and led us to an Invincible season it was a joy to watch. Mainly because we had all got bogged down watching Ronny Delia’s team during his last season in charge and needed something fresh. And although we continued winning under Rodgers, by the time he had left I have to say I found our style of play predictable and boring. The backwards passing, the intricate play trying to find openings, all not very exciting to watch.
Now I’m not saying Rodgers style wasn’t effective, 7 trophies out of 7 proves it was. But was it exhilarating to watch? Not for me it wasn’t.
Under Ange Postecoglou we went back to what I would term as ‘playing the Celtic way’. We Never Stop was the mantra, one that summed up the style of play so well. Our enemies hated it. The media asked did he have a Plan B? Ange would basically tell them it’s to do Plan A better. We would see the Australian blast his players from the touchline for passing the ball backwards. I admit his record in Europe wasn’t great, but was it not a thrill to watch Celtic go up against Real Madrid and actually have them on the back foot for a large chunk of the first half?
I have to say I absolutely loved it all. Surely that’s what footballs all about? Give the paying punters what they want to see. Celtic stepping up against inferior domestic opponents and just blowing them away. Going up against European giants and trying to beat them at their own game rather than trying to keep the score down or trying to eke out a draw? Playing the Celtic way.
That style unfortunately has seemed to have disappeared. I stupidly thought Rodgers could come in and fine tune what Ange had built. Keep the attacking flair but maybe add a bit of steel when it comes to Europe. Make us harder to beat on that stage. I was wrong. I should have known better. A top level manager like Rodgers was obviously never going to come in and follow someone else’s blueprint. He’s had a career full of success so of course he’s going to implement his own style. The unfortunate thing is that style of play looks so uninspiring after what we were treated to these past two seasons.
We won our opening two league games which was great but already I was starting to see the end of ‘Angeball’ as we knew it. The backward passes are back. The slow methodical build up play is back. My excitement slowly starting to disappear. Ah well as long as we are winning I suppose. Until Kilmarnock shocked us with a goal. We had plenty of time to get an equaliser but it never looked likely. The build up play still slow and we even threw in an old school Neil Lennon ‘just lump it up forwards’ tactic near the end for good measure. Far from inspiring stuff.
The end of ‘Angeball’ has also seemed to have had an effect on a lot of our best players over the past two seasons. Greg Taylor has gone from potentially one of the players of the season last year to the version of himself a few years back that Celtic fans constantly bemoaned. Hatate couldn’t make the starting eleven before his injury. Anthony Ralston looks to have regressed also. Then we have our captain who’s form never dips, until now. Callum looks lost trying to get to grips with the new system. Aren’t we all?
It seems to be taking some players a little longer than others to adapt to Rodgers style of play. This is where our transfer dealings are so important. So far we have spent decent money and brought a few players in. Most of these however were scouted last year and were cherry picked to fit into our old style of play. That’s gone now. Celtic need to be handing the funds over to Rodgers to secure the type of player that will work in HIS system.
I’m hoping that our players can get to grips with this new style of play soon. We have looked disjointed so far this season, and with the amount of injuries we currently have I’m not overly looking forward to our visit to Ibrox next weekend. I have already watched them and they also look clueless at times trying to work out Beale’s tactics, which could be our saving grace. Usually I would be relishing taking them on but we are clearly going through a transitional period ourselves.
What we do know however is that we have an elite manager in charge, who will be absolutely determined to get it right. The Celtic board need to back their man in the transfer market if they have any ambitions of continuing the status quo in Scotland and making inroads in Europe. The next few weeks are certainly going to be interesting.
Conall McGinty
This article completely encapsulates how I feel right now, other than I actually think the huns are settling into their style and September 3 will be a big task imo
Well done though on your article
The team hasn’t played that well since March which is probably when players realized ange was leaving. I am still not convinced B R is an elite manager anymore Leicester were on the decline for a while and look where they are now i genuinely think going back for ex managers in football seldom works as it right away creates two camps in the dressing room those who played for him before and those who haven’t so the unity we had is gone. Sleeping at the wheel is such an appropriate description of what we are doing. HH