Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

I agree, the players are naive (that's being generous). But everything at the minute seems to be aimed at the board and the board alone. I detest this board too and would celebrate like * if they all left tomorrow.

However, I just don't think Rodgers is a good manager in European football. I get that he's working with dross but the performances have been far from encouraging. We've had 2 winnable games, maybe 3 when you consider we were leading vs Atletico twice, and still come away with nothing.

I'm not just basing this off this season either, it's every European campaign he's had with us along with his records at Liverpool and Leicester (where he had money to compete). His managerial record in the CL is the worst for 20 years. Even then you'll get excuses made for him that Liverpool and Leicester's transfer committees weren't good enough or something.

I just feel like the mentality we had under Ange has gone. I don't remember a game in Europe this bad under Ange. Even the 5-1 in Madrid we created a bunch of chances. Bodo was up there for sure, but we've had multiple shockers under Rodgers now. That tells me that it's not just the lack of quality on the park but the lack of ideas in the dugout to navigate European ties.

I did think we were naive in Europe under Ange too btw. I also think he underachieved in Europe to an extent, but you'd always know we'd have a go and not fold like a pack of cards. This is my main problem with Rodgers, I don't believe he believes he can compete at this level. He may be right, but his constant quotes before the matches about the "financial muscle" of our opponents is tiresome and instills a defeatist attitude before a ball is kicked. I'm sure Feyenoord and Lazio have comparable turnovers to us too.

We should be sitting on at 4-6 points in this group. We're on 1 and have been embarrassed today in a way that is a carbon copy of Rodgers' previous Celtic teams. The board takes a massive share of the blame for that, but so does Rodgers imo. I do think the mentality from the club is rotten from top to bottom, fixing this will take a while. I just don't believe Rodgers is the man to do it.

 

Why are braindead * still using a 9 man loss against the manager?

So many positives to take from the home games.

Tonight we went own to 10 and lost one of the most important players in our system. Game was * gone as soon as that happened.

 

Judging a Celtic manager by what they achieve in Europe is like judging a fish by how well it can climb a tree.

Ange was one of the best managers we could get and he was * in Europe as well. There's no point in dwelling on it.

 

So we should never judge a Celtic manager by what they do in Europe? Heavily disagree with that. What's the point in us entering any European competition if the manager gets a free pass every time?

Our greatest teams and managers are judged that way because of what they did in Europe. I know we're in a different footballing climate now but I'm not going to just give up on any sort of European progression - the bar needs to be set higher than winning the league against a * poor hun team.

 

the football has been pish in all but 2 games domestically and the first half v athletico .though we had turned a corner ,he needs better players for sure but scraping past scottish teams with what he has doesnt look good

 

Trying to ‘take the game’ to the likes of these * away in Europe is * suicidal * (moreover with our current squad). We should be setting up more defensively, urging caution, and trying to hit them on the counter if and when possible. Braindead tactics tbh, naive beyond belief. His team selection and use of subs can be baffling at times too - even domestically.

It’s done now so Rodger’s better concentrate on making sure he convinces the board to spend in January, and also not to * up the league.

 

I've seen people say we were trying to take the game to them in the second half, I see no evidence of this. We had 1 shot the whole game and I can't remember us having the ball in any dangerous area of the pitch in the second half. We couldn't keep the ball for more than 3 passes. It was a pure capitulation. We were so wide open, not closing down, not tackling, not passing the ball, not tracking runners, not doing anything.

Anyway I won't put this all on Rodgers. After calming down he takes about 30% of the blame for this tonight. I don't think any manager is capable of "fixing" us in Europe. The rot is that deep. The club is done as long as the higher ups are still here. But I still maintain that Rodgers isn't a good manager in Europe, particularly with a squad like ours.

* in the wind whatever we do.

 

All of this is true. Prior to the reed card we had 73% of the possession. After the red card we had abouyt 16% of the ball for the rest of the game. We had 1 corner shortly after ther red card but that was it. In the second half, forget about it, never got remotely close to them. Even though it was just 1 man down, to go from 73% possession (even if we weren't creating a whole tonne with it they were hitting us on the counter). but after Maeda was sent off, all of that went completely out the window. We struggled to even string a couple of passes together to just keep the ball rather than playing defence non stop, which was what we were doing.

 

When it broke he was in contention for the job all sorts on here were having wankathons about how brilliant it was gonna be domestically, how he was gonna get a big transfer chest, and how he was finally getting a good crack at Europe.

I labelled ALL OF THAT, absolute bollocks. I was * rinsed for it, along with a few other dissenting voices.

He was given * all, domestically we look about 3x times slower and ponderous than under Ange, and Europe has been the usual fiasco.

I said I would give him 2 years (that's two years WITH TITLES) to judge his return properly.

So far he's been pretty * *.

Naive in Europe. Out of one cup already. Patchy in the league... And "his" transfer business has been non existent. It's starting to look like we're sliding into "wait until he gets his own players" time, a la Sevco and Beale.

I'm giving him to February now. He better get this window right and start looking like the dominant force we are domestically.

 

If I was him I'd stand up in January and say "back me" or "sack me". Grow some balls brendan.

Said it already I really don't see the point in him returning to Celtic without getting the boards backing which he clearly didnt in the summer.

He doesn't need the money and winning the league will do nothing for his carreer really. Europe is where he needed to perform and that's not going to happen with this squad.

 

We are the St Johnstone of European football.

It's as simple as that.

 

Our best CL managers adapted and got results. Were 10 years past being anything like competitive in Europe because managers need a "philosophy"

 

Nah. He wanted to stay in the limelight and earn a call from a good EPL club.

 

Rodgers biggest deception is having us believe we are not capable of better with this group of players.

He hasnt been helped by recruitment, but he doesnt help himself with his tactics.

The facade that we are learning progressing will perpetuate as every summer we will lose players like O’Riley and effectively be a different team by the next campaign.

It feels like we have become soft and part of me feels its due to the lack of leaders on the pitch.
Winning doesnt care for excuses, or for who shook hands and who didnt or for how well we played during specific sections of one game. We need to be more stoic, we cant keep imploding.

 

Not going to blame him too much for last night, the red card * us.

What I am absolutely sick of is his "huge gulf" patter when it comes to Europe. What effect must that have on the players when it demonised me as a fan? I wish he'd just shut up about how big a gap there is - we know there is, but other clubs of similar budgets have done very, very well in Europe. I know we got tanked in Madrid under Ange but at least we went out and had a proper go, created a lot of chances. Longing for his attitude towards playing "bigger" teams now.

 

What a load of pish.

We've dropped 4 points in the league, whilst winning at Ibrox, Pittodrie, Tynecastle, Fir Park and Livingston with 10 men.

We were the better team against Lazio the entire game, and were better the first half against Feyenoord and Atletico. Not much Rodgers can do when Lagerbielke and Maeda get Red cards for essentially nothing.

Its mental how one poor result is enough for people to go off on him, it was the exact same under Ange's first season, some people are just waiting for him to fail so they can say "I told you so!!"

 

Patchy in the League? We're unbeaten and had a really tough run of away games.. including the Huns with a patchwork defence..

He's also been unlucky in Europe in terms of decisions going against us and he hasn't been backed properly.. he needs to ensure that changes.. but the home game v Atletico is as good as we've played in Europe in seasons..

5 pts clear in November with the Huns to come to Celtic Park twice, you'd take that..

 

He won't take that. Some people won't ever take back to him and any single defeat we get they'll go in on him. If it was a new manager down 5 points he'd be calling for time. However some can't let go of the past. I genuinly wonder if some people who comment some pish actually watch the games and don't just look at the result.

 

I'm personally in the middle ground. Rodgers isn't doing horribly, but is no improvement on his first stint. An idealist like Ange, he is unable to get us to overachieve on Europe.

 

27 shots to 1, ouch!

Fair enough we were a man down against a tough opponent, but that's a bitter pill to swallow after a couple years of Angeball, where the results in Europe weren't there but we were always somewhat competitive.