A TRIP to Sligo while internationals disrupted Celtic’s competitive efforts provided some light relief, but the story from the recent run of fixtures remains the 7-1 drubbing at the hands of Borussia Dortmund, and it will need more than a trip to Ireland to exorcise those ghosts.
Even more pressingly for Celtic, Italian side Atalanta lie in wait in the Champions League and will prove to be stiff opposition for the Scottish Champions.
Much more than the missed opportunity to add to their three points in the competition, the dismal visit to Dortmund raised questions about manager Brendan Rodgers’ approach at the elite level. Losing is one thing, but the roof falling in such a fashion left supporters humiliated and players visibly dejected. What’s more, the opening day victory, which raised everyone at the club to such highs, evaporated in the unforgiving heat of real Champions League battle.
Those goals, surrendered so cheaply, might well be crucial at the end of this phase of the competition, with several teams likely to finish on the same points total and goal difference being used to determine who progresses. If Celtic find themselves in that position, and it isn’t unlikely, then the degrading nature of the defeat will count for a lot less than the mathematical reality.
Celtic were too open, too weak, too naive and too casual. A tighter approach from Celtic might not have yielded any different outcome, but it may have spared some blushes and could have limited the goals conceded.
It isn’t the first time a Rodgers side has coughed up goal after goal in a Champions League defeat, and going by the post-match comments it might not be the last. Eight years on from his first foray into Europe’s premier competition supporters are still suffering the same sorts of ritual humiliations.
Court of the Champions League
Fair or unfair, this is where Rodgers (above) will be judged. He was brought to Celtic as the best manager available to the club, the man who could operate at the elite level. Brendan Rodgers isn’t necessary for Celtic to win the league in Scotland, and as glaring as his success is domestically he has failed to make a real impact in Europe.
His style may be the reason why Celtic were able to dismantle Slovan Bratislava in such satisfying and emphatic fashion, and it led to a famous away victory at Anderlecht in his first spell when his side thumped the Belgians 3-0, but it has also led to real drubbings both home and away against better sides.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise that playing last year’s finalists as if they are Slovan Bratislava is a recipe for disaster, and sure enough a disaster followed.
His side may be built for success in Scotland, playing a style which rightly won many plaudits last season, but Champions League teams—particularly at the higher level where clubs like Borussia Dortmund or Atalanta operate—are different animals.
Frustratingly, the Irishman looked more at the individual errors and slack passing which—though galling and instantly punished—were the symptoms of suffering at this level rather than the roots cause of it.
Celtic found themselves panicky, short on options and committed to a style that exposed them to quality opponents, and errors shortly followed.
Lessons to be learned
“We had a great first game, we always knew it was going to be difficult with some of the away games that we have at this level, and I think you saw tonight why that is,” Rodgers explained. “How clinical they were, how ruthless they were and they were an outstanding team. There are harsh lessons at this level, any misplaced passes, when your positioning is not quite right, you get punished. You saw there, a few short passes and they were away, and we get punished for that. So for our players it’s a big learning, and one that we need to take into the next games at this level.”
While there are clearly lessons there for the players to learn, however, perhaps the lessons for the manager are a little clearer. For Celtic to see progress in Europe there will probably have to be more in the way of dirty performances, where ambitions to press high and impose themselves on opponents are abandoned in favour of simply coming through the inevitable periods of pressure unscathed and seeking out moments of intent in the game, rather than playing a style which places unrealistic demands on them.
The players at his disposal for this task are not ideal, but having seen how his charges were dealt with in Germany a new approach from Rodgers is surely called for. The bruised egos of supporters can’t countenance another going over like that in Italy.
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