Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

I'll add that the "in line" bit is important, too. At least at corners, we often have players sitting in the goalie's lap. It's better to line players for a run into that area.

 

Right Rodgers, here’s your chance to make us all happy. DO NOT DROP IWATA.

 

one word - confidence
AJ said '* it' and took the mask off at HT v Motherwell - I think the whole team metaphorically did the same.
I can feel a title winning t-shirt design coming on....

 

So much more direct lastnight, ball being zipped around at pace, what a * difference!!!

 

Finally starting to see a bit more of a recognisable style emerging now, more physicality, more direct, crosses into the box with actual purpose now we have someone to hit.

Still want to see us getting it out wide quicker and the wingers taking on the full back a bit more.

 

Don't know why he changed it last night but it's been a while since we've had a game like that.

Makes you wonder why we've been holding back the last few months and playing so poorly. Also, shows it's tactics and not the players he has at his disposal. Although having CCV, Taylor and Iwata in the side obviously did help.

 

Was like watching his team in the first season he was here. Is this the turning point?

 

Great shout that. Have to hand it to him getting that performance out the side. Hopefully he continues to prove most of us wrong.

 

I think he had to relent and abandon a patient build-up. Yesterday's football was so unlike Rodgers. Didn't he mention a few weeks ago that we need to use the middle of the pitch more? We certainly attacked down the wings. I suspect the players demanded a change of tactics.

 

And the thing is, it’s not really abandoned, it’s a slight tweak that’s a major difference. We had 78% and 800 odd passes last night, we had the ball still 2nd half Motherwell and control of the flow of the game.

What we’ve done is move it faster, press more, and allow more players in the box and the ball to go into the box as soon as we have options in it to hit.

It’s a small tweak to what we were doing before, with such a staggering difference. Very reminiscent to the Invincible season, rather than the 3rd season when he left for Leicester

 

First he had to deal with the whole sexism sideshow. The awkward aftermath of a post-match interview gone wrong at Fir Park.

But, as soon as he had got that toe curler out of the way on Tuesday afternoon, Brendan Rodgers rolled out a huge 78in touch screen TV and ran through a tactical tutorial for the benefit of a small band of written press. For half an hour or so, Rodgers replayed clips of various Celtic goals scored over the past two seasons. Four under Ange Postecoglou. Another four from this season, all scored on his watch. And the similarities, it must be said, were really quite striking.


Inverted full-backs creating space for wingers to get down the side, crossing the ball for three runners - one attacking the front post, one at the back and one in the middle. The point the manager was attempting to ram home was that, despite the common consensus, Celtic’s attacking strategy has not changed all that much since Postecoglou took his Angeball with him to Tottenham. If it has changed at all

Of course, critics of Rodgers could have cobbled together video evidence of their own to counter the argument. But, throughout it all, one thought occurred more than any other. If the system remains more or less the same, then it’s the quality of the individuals within it who ultimately determine its success


For example, where Postecoglou had Jota and Liel Abada, Rodgers has been juggling the likes of Luis Palma, Mikey Johnston, Nicolas Kuhn and Yang. And where the Aussie had Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers minding the shop at the back, Rodgers has been relying on Liam Scales, Maik Nawrocki, Stephen Welsh or Gustaf Lagerbielke. Which is precisely why the Parkhead boss has been so vocal about the significance of having Carter-Vickers back in his squad in time for the run-in.

The return of one man might not fix all of the problems Celtic have struggled to overcome this season. But Rodgers suspects the American’s presence at the heart of defence will cure more than most would imagine. And the evidence of the last two matches suggests the man in charge might be onto something


On Sunday at Motherwell, Carter-Vickers came off the bench to immediately snuff out the threat being posed by the rampaging Theo Bair. By doing so, Celtic won the ball back nearer the halfway line, rather than being dragged back into their own territory by Bair’s many one-man forays. And this, in turn, enabled the team to launch attacks of their own from 40 or 50 yards further up the pitch than they had been able to during a woeful first half showing

It was an almost identical story on Wednesday night as Celtic smashed six first half goals past Dundee - with Carter-Vickers grabbing the first of them on his much awaited return to the starting XI. And, while the former Spurs defender might shy away from taking any such credit, there is no question of his importance in the mind of the man who picks the team.

The key to what comes next then, may very well depend on keeping Carter-Vickers on the pitch and out of the treatment room, where he has spent so much of his time this season

 

Wish we got insight into stuff like that. Football clubs (or at least us) don’t realise how much the tactical side of the game actually appeals to younger fans. Loads of areas where I feel as though we should give fans more insight to the inner workings of the club.

 

Not buying the "look at these goals I haven't changed it" pish.

But... Hopeful signs that there's been a change of attitude from Rodgers and the players, and they look like they're starting to wake the * up to what every fan has been pointing out as the obvious deficiencies in our play.

Fingers, toes, knees and balls crossed that it's not too late.

 

I didn't notice that. We only scored 1 goal 2nd half so he should get it back on lol

 

No Brendan or Callum at training today

According to sky sports

 

Ah ffs how long is Brendan out for

 

Just a day lad

 

Very strange.. hopefully nothing

 

Bit puzzled by them even reporting that. Is it that unique a situation?