Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

It's the Champions League mate. When you say YB weren't very good, they're better than anything we play in the league. We won, we deserved to win, just enjoy it.

 

They were pish in all honesty. Other than being a team of giants they had nothing about them at all. Can enjoy the result without pretending they were anything but a really, really average side.

The bigger concern for me is our wastefulness, we absolutely battered them first half but had nothing to show for it then understandably composure went out the window second half.

That’s for tomorrow to worry about now however. What can’t be questioned is the character of the team, every positive result we’ve had this campaign (including the Zagreb result now) would’ve ended up being a disappointing one in seasons gone by.

Brendan Rodgers has been absolutely outstanding in this campaign however, other than the * show against BVB he’s got everything spot on.

 

One of Brendan Rodgers’ objectives on returning to Paradise was to see improvement on the European stage for Celtic. And his team has continued to grow at that level, witnessed by this season’s UEFA Champions League campaign.

Three wins, three draws and just one defeat has seen the Hoops progress to the play-off stage of the prestigious competition with one league-stage match to spare, and the Celtic manager is delighted at the progress of his team.

Wednesday night’s 1-0 win over Swiss side, YB Bern, courtesy of a late own goal, was a victory that the Hoops thoroughly deserved and it ensures another round of European football for the club.

And speaking to Celtic TV after the game, Brendan Rodgers said: “It’s a brilliant result and I’m very pleased with the performance and maturity in it.

“I though in the first half we were outstanding – our penetration and our ability to get in behind – and we were unfortunate with the goals that were disallowed.

'Then we probably got that little bit of luck that we never had in the first half with the goal.'

“I just said to the guys afterwards, that in the 85th minute of the game, they kept their composure, they stuck with the plan, they played the ball through the thirds and then it was an absolutely unbelievable pass from Reo to get us in.

“Adam makes the run and then we get the wee bit of fortune at the end of it, but I thought we thoroughly deserved that and thoroughly deserved the three points.


“I thought the composure of the team was really good. We were so good in the first half.

"We don’t score the penalty but I thought the reaction was good and we responded well. We stayed calm and got to work again on trying to play.

“And then we just kept persevering in the second half and then, eventually, we got our reward.”

The first-half saw three disallowed Celtic goals and a missed penalty for the home side, while Auston Trusty hit the bar in the second-half.

At the other end, Kasper Schmeichel produced a stunning double save when it was still goal-less, while he was prevented a last-gasp equaliser when the Hoops were down to 10 men.

The winning goal came with five minutes remaining when Reo Hatate threaded the ball through to Adam Idah, and though his initial effort was saved, it was bundled into the net by a YB Bern defender.

“This is the highest level of club football, where there’s top players in every team and threats in every team,” he said, “but for us we’ve built through it and played some great football, but showed different ways to win as well.

“When we’ve had to dig in, we’ve been able to do that. Defensively we’ve been good at the level bar one game, so overall, there has been a lot of progress and I’m really pleased with that.

“So we can now look forward to one more game, see who we get in the play-offs and give everything when that comes.”

 

They were definitely a big, strong, physical team and weren't scared to put the boot in. They tightened it up a bit second half and we didn't get the same space. But, in a game we're expected to win well, when the pressure was all on us, i thought overall we did well.Totally agree it shows the character of this team to keep going and win it so late.

 

TBH, they're a big, physical team with a few quality players and also a lot of dross. A team that tries to physically bully you and are quite dirty.

I think we just basically played the Huns.

 

You could see when it panned in to him before the goal that he didn't think it was gonna happen. I'd kinda given up a few minutes before as well that it was just one of those nights..

Some buzz when we got it. He's got our respect back in Europe overall and made Celtic Park a difficult place to come again for the most part..

 

... he's taking the Spurs job in a couple of weeks.

 

Massive win for him and the club last night. Can now go into the Villa game with the pressure off and you never know what might happen.

He’d love to get one over an EPL team.

 

Does that mean we're getting Ange back?

 

Well said. They'll try anything to downplay the achievement but fact is we've been outstanding in Europe this year, one result aside. That's with a fairly depleted squad as well, at least going forward.

Some of the football we've played across the seven games has been a joy to watch, and we've finally learned how to be savvy away from home. Can't praise Rodgers enough.

 

Credit to him. Few of us screaming at the Tele to get Hatate off as he looked * and get some legs on in McCowan. 5 minutes later Reo pulls off that worldie pass and bang, we're through!

I will always praise and criticise as fairly as possible and he deserves praise for our European campaign this season. Players have played with a lot more composure and maturity at this level now. Big chance next week to show some folk down here what he's capable of.

 

I'd love that TBH. Arguably, Brendan is the better manager; but Ange is a great manager too and I love his personality.

 

He has put us back on the European map after many years of utter failure.

 

On another night that ends a similar scoreline to Bratislava. I think a lot of things went against us that usually wouldn't, all within the one half.

The likes of Hibs and Hearts would start attacking us and causing problems like Young Boys did second half if it was still 0-0 too, so not too worried about that, we clearly tired.

Delighted with him and for him tbh.

 

Teams and set up was excellent I thought, he can’t do anything about players missing chances or straying offside. Game should’ve been done by HT.

 

He's done a really good job, last night was huge for him and the whole club..

Really hope he keep pushes for reenforcement, he's but himself in an excellent position with the board.

 

The number of games we have played this past couple of months is absolutely insane. To be in the position we are in the league, won a cup and be in the top 24 in Europe is a phenomenal achievement!!!! I mean utterly phenomenal. Brendan Rodgers and his staff deserve some amount of credit for this.