Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

Big man comes back fighting

 

Bullish Brendan Rodgers insists he’s no dreamer - but the defiant Celtic boss is adamant he won’t change his football philosophies despite another Champions League nightmare in Dortmund.

The Hoops gaffer is still smarting from the brutal 7-1 bashing BVB dished out to his team at the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday night. The Scottish champions marched into that clash with the Bundesliga giants on the crest of the wave after an undefeated domestic start at home. But Rodgers claims he was never naive enough to discount the possibility of his side suffering a big defeat to Nuri Sahin’s lethal line-up.


What the Northern Irishman is prepared to dismiss is any notion that he may rethink the aggressive tactics that took his team to last year’s double triumph, even though they were also directly involved in his team being so exposed in Germany. Rodgers said: “I'm experienced enough to know that when the stakes are high and you get high-level competition, that sometimes you have to expect defeat.


If you don't, you're a dreamer. And if you dream in management, you won't be in it long. It's great for everyone to dream, and for critics to look and think what the scores might be. But as a manager, at times against the Champions League finalists, you might expect that you might actually lose. But we'll learn from it and be better for it.”

The critics have been lining up to take pops at Rodgers after his team’s latest Champions League collapse. His side also shipped seven to Barcelona and PSG during his first Parkhead stint and there was a six-goal shellacking away to Atletico Madrid last term. But the former Liverpool and Leicester gaffer would much rather square up to the top teams prepared to have a go than meekly accept an inevitable defeat.

That might not fill the Parkhead faithful with confidence as they look ahead to their Bergamo showdown with Europa League winners Atalanta later this month. But Rodgers reckons his gameplan can succeed if his men stick to it - and cut out the mistakes which were so costly in Germany.


Asked for his response to the critics, he said: “I'm not really bothered. That's my honest answer. You can't turn a tap off and on. If you analyse the game, you'll see that we were trying to press the game in the static position and then fall back into shape. But that wasn't to the level that we wanted on the evening. But we play how we play




It's the same performances over the last number of months that allowed us to go into this game with this incredible optimism. You can't just turn the tap back off and say you've become super defensive. That's not how we play.

“So what do we do? Sit back, have 15 percent of the ball and probably lose 3-0, 4-0? Or do you play how you play but know that the mistakes, you've got to sharpen your teeth in and you've got to be better in, you've got to make quicker movements to close space. And all those things are a learning process.

“I'd much rather do that and go down with my own vision than by someone who's saying that he's never coached a game in their life or played third or done whatever. So I respect the opinion but I don't listen to it and never have


He added: “I'm not daft. I hear all the words, pragmatism and all this sort of stuff. And whatever else gets thrown at teams that want to play. We don't play that way to lose. We play to win. And we also know that there are certain games and certain opponents that you have to adjust to.

“But I've never been a coach in the main that will sit back and want to defend, defend, defend and lose 3-0. I'd rather impose a way of working to win the game.


But also knowing, as I said before the game, that the quality of a team, no matter what your philosophy is, the quality of a team will push you back. And I think that our game the other night was a classic example of that

 

I don't think it's his 'vision', I think it's defeatist and lazy.

If he expects to lose, then his vision is to play aggressively and lose badly. Who holds such a vision? There's no way he believes what he's saying there.

He either feels the team can't adapt to play a disciplined defensive game, or he doesn't think it's worth it to teach them because they'll still lose anyway. I think it's the latter. I don't think he can be bothered to drill them in a new tactic if there's a good chance they still lose, so he just stuck them out as they normally set up. That would make more sense than the reason he's given anyway.

 

I agree with him.

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We knew about 5 mins into this game we were gonna get schooled.

We should have shut up shop and 3-1 down and then sat in hopefully frustrating them.....If its still a 2 goal margin with 15 mins to go then go for it....I would rather loose 4 or 5 goals trying to get something in the last 15 mins that being 5-1 down in 41 mins.

Cant remember any manager than actually has a plan B for us....They just stick to what seems to work against Dundee and St Johnstone.....Then we become the St Johnstone in Europe.

We need to learn to defend as well as attack.....That needs drilled in and worked on then...not just going out and attacking everyone...it will never work every game.

Now we go into games knowing nothing will change and so do the opposition now.....Atalanta will batter us and then we have teams at home who will need to win to stay in the competition....including us after the 3rd game.

We were sitting so * pretty and now look.....goal diff wiped and now telling everyone we aint gonna switch it up.

 

Tbh, I think the Aberdeen manager should have probably won that....

 

"You can't turn a tap off and on". Err yes you can.

 

He never learned a thing from the other European humiliations we've suffered under him so why would he start now. He's done brilliantly in domestic football for us but for Europe I doubt he'll ever have us do much. He's been in charge of more European embarrassments for us than Stein, Hay, McNeill, O'Neill and Strachan combined.

 

Short memories. Litterly just broke our record for our biggest ever win.

 

I think we had a incredibly bad day at the office while Dortmund played freakishly good. How we looked was positioned was not how it was meant to be.

Ofc he will stand by his style when getting grilled.

I think we all wanted us to play our game before a ball was kicked.

Skickat från min SM-F926B via Tapatalk

 

Great, looking forward to a pumping in Italy..

*, is he talking about success he had at Liverpool v Chelsea..

 

We played well against Bratislava but they were also a poor side. Europa league level rather than CL level. Dortmund was a real test and we utterly failed it making the same basic mistakes we've made consistently under BR in the CL.

 

The Celtic faithful were on the road again in Dortmund, full of hope and optimism. But instead of finding Paradise by the Ruhr, instead it ended up as another joyless journey.

For a club so dominant at home, adventures abroad have become a chastening experience for the Parkhead support. Their seven-goal shellacking at the Westfalenstadion was remarkably the 70th time the Hoops have been beaten on foreign soil since the year 2000. Brendan Rodgers has been in charge for some of the most sobering of those bitter setbacks.



First time around his side shipped seven at both the Nou Camp and the Pard des Princes. Last year it was six as Atletico Madrid wreaked havoc at the Wanda Metropolitano. It was hoped all that humiliation had been consigned to the past as the Irishman led his team to Germany with confidence scoring after an unbeaten domestic start


But all that excitement was crushed within 45 devastating minutes as Celtic’s brutal recent history on the continent played out on repeat. In the end, it was seeing the supports' air of optimism go pop that was the most deflating aspect of a painful night for Rodgers


I'm really disappointed,” he said. “Firstly for the supporters. Two hours before the game, the noise in the stadium was amazing. And then during the game and after the game, you feel the journey that they've been there, and we couldn't give them more.

“I feel for the players too, because over this last seven months, the path that we've been on, and we will still continue to be on that path of improvement and development, and an exciting team to play. Things went against us in the game, and before we know it, we've conceded five goals in the first half, so it becomes a challenge in the second half


The challenge now for Celtic is to pick themselves up again from their midweek mauling. First is today’s trip to Ross County but beyond that they face another huge test away to Europa League winners Atalanta


There is certainly winnable fixtures at home too, with RB Leipzig, Club Brugge and Young Boys still to visit Celtic Park. But Rodgers knows a victory on the road against either the Italians, Dinamo Zagreb or Aston Villa would go a long way to ensuring they fulfil their qualification dreams - as well as repaying the punters his side let down in Dortmund.

“I don't think you have to [win away to qualify], but we would want to,” he said. “We would want to have results away from home


I'm very conscious that supporters are getting out of work and travelling thousands of miles in every which way they can to get there. To support the team, to give the incredible support that we have



So I'm not just going to dismiss that we don't need it. We actually want to get the results for the team and for the support base that are travelling and making all this commitment to go and see their team.

“We want them to be proud of their team. But in the actual, just pure numbers of it, if you win your home games then the likelihood is that you would qualify without having to win away.

“We go into every game with a positive expectation to do well. Whether that was at home or Bratislava or away at Borussia Dortmund. And like I said, when the stakes are high and the competition is fierce, sometimes you might not always go your way. So you have to accept that. But winning away from home, of course, and getting results. Everyone wants to do that.”


Tuesday’s frustration is multiplied by the fact the tournament’s new format denes Rodgers and his team the chance to settle scores back in Glasgow. He said: “I know, speaking to Nuri Sahin after the game, that that was something that they would have preferred the game to being at Celtic Park. As would I!

“But it's not to be. When Celtic Park wants something, it brings you a lot closer to getting it. Because of the atmosphere


So that was the only downside of it. But we can't have everything. We can't have eight games and we can't play opponents that might give us a chance.”

Celtic will have to dust themselves down before they head to Dingwall. But in fairness, Rodgers’ side never had too much bother with that before


Even after being smacked for seven by Messi, Suarez and Neymar back in 2016, that wasn’t enough to derail Rodgers’ Invincibles from their stunning Treble charge. “You can dwell on it and go down the bitter route and start blaming everything,” said the Parkhead boss.

“You can’t say, ‘We haven't got the players, we haven't got this’. It doesn't really work for me. I owned that the other night.


I've had a number of these in my time here. I've won against big opponents in big games. We beat Chelsea in an FA Cup Final [with Leicester] and a couple of weeks later they go and win the Champions League.



I've worked in big games and won big games. That's why I have that confidence that when you do lose a game of that magnitude, it is hard and it is tough. It's really tough for a player, especially some of the first experiences.

“But when you've been through it, setbacks are part of the journey. It's also part of the ambition of where it is you want to get to. Because if you think you can get there just all plain sailing, no chance. It doesn't happen. If we were to qualify after the games, there was always going to be some tough moments along the way.

“We had a brilliant one. Bratislava, they've had a tough one on this one. Three points out of six. I think it would have all taken that. But we'll move on from the game and hopefully there's great learning there

 

We’ve played ‘poorer’ sides before both in CL and Europa and done nothing near what we done against Slovan Bratislava either.

But we do have more individual quality than them, and I have ultimate trust in BR getting us winning games that we should expect a win, and when he’s flying for us to do it impressively. It’s not something we’ve always been capable of actually doing at European Level. I can remember saying back in the day I somehow expect an upset against Man Utd but was nervous of an Aalborg.

 

It’s arrogance to suggest that you’ll never change it.

 

To be fair, last season he did seem a bit more defensive than Tally Ho Ange..until that 7-1 lol. Hopefully we'll be a bit more defensive next up.

 

And worryingly, they are much better defensively as well I think. Dortmund defence has been leaky as * and allow themselves isolated a lot. Atalanta as cliche as it is are what you’d expect from Italians, that attack is built from a solid defensive foundation there as well.

One thing he’ll be quick to point out if there is a major difference to see, is what Calmac pointed out, he’ll point towards us not actually carrying out on the pitch the tactics that he wanted us to play. I’m willing to accept that we didn’t actually see it, but by ten minutes in to the eventual mercy of the final whistle there was no change or adapting to what we were seeing in the field, just personnel changes he trusted to bring something different due to the player. There was no reaction to what was actually happening during the game.


That’s a worry. Plans and tactics can go wrong, they can get away with what you thought when stuff is happening on the pitch, and that needs spotted early enough and changed during it to adapt to the circumstances. Not just left alone.

 

He doesn’t need to change his style. Just drop Bernardo back help cal in midfield.

 

Will wait and see how we perform against Atalanta.

I don't expect him to change his style from the start, and I don't think anybody here has issues with starting the way we did, we were all saying before the match about our press and Dortmund's defence.

The problem was refusing to change it mid-way, which is bizarre as I think Rodgers is excellent when it comes to that domestically, so many times we're toiling and he'll change it up which works wonders, he should be able to show that in Europe too.