First things first, most of those at Friday’s Brendan Rodgers media conference were absolutely delighted by the scale of the defeat from Borussia Dortmund three nights earlier.
Whether they were at the match or cheering the goals from afar seeing Rodgers on the end of a drubbing was an evening of light relief on the back of the misery that the Irishman has inflicted on them and their club.
The visionary that is Micky Beale was destroyed by Rodgers in one match with Celtic victorious at Ibrox in a game where the back four at the final whistle was Tony Ralston, Gus Lagerbielke, Liam Scales and Alexandro Bernabei.
A year on the great Belgian hope that is Phil Clement is proped up against the ropes waiting on the final defeat. Rodgers has softened him up, it could be the Irishman, a Europa League opponent or a surprise set-back domestically that finishes of the current Ibrox leader.
Rodgers knows the background, the allegiances of the ‘reporters’ and the agendas of the publishers and broadcasters that they represent.
Having said all of that the media conference is an opportunity to communicate with Celtic fans, on the basis of what was said the fears and concerns from Tuesday night have been amplified.
Rodgers could well be playing at games, he wouldn’t be the first manager to double down in public while going through his players and planning for serious changes, not against Ross County or Aberdeen but away to Atalanta on October 23.
Not only did Rodgers double down but he suggested that alternative strategies are for dreamers, and that dreamers won’t last long in management.
In Friday’s Daily Record Chris Sutton compared the approach of Unai Emery in Aston Villa’s win over Bayern Munich with Celtic’s chasing from Borussia Dortmund.
Sutton lasted a year as manager of Lincoln, 51 matches in charge, winning 13, losing 24 with 13 draws.
QUESTION: If you manage to eradicate those mistakes and get those tweaks right, then can you be competitive at that level?
RODGERS: That’s the challenge. Like I said, I’m not a dreamer. We want to be competitive and I think we showed in our first game that if we’re at that level and do everything right then we have an opportunity. There’s going to be games that are a challenge for us, but we’ll do our best to get the results that we want.
We’ll be judged at the end of January and we’ll see where the points total takes us, but I have a real belief in the group, and how they’ve been working. It was a sore one the other night, but like I said there’s lots of critique around it and how you play. That’s never bothered me, we have a way of working, that same way that excites supporters and has got them really excited.
We’ll continue on that path, but you know and I know that we’ll bounce back to an even stronger position than we were before the game. Why? Because we’ll learn from it.
Rodgers managed to turn the media conference into a discussion that suggested the only alternative to Celtic’s approach was to park the bus. There are far more than two ways to play football. Emery treated Bayern Munich differently to Ipswich, their weekend opponents in the EPL.
Every top manager varies their approach dependent on circumstances, Arsenal were very defensive away to Atalanta, took a point then played their usual match at home to beat PSG in Matchday 2. The Champions League is littered with examples like that.
While Celtic’s tactics and set up looked badly inappropriate against Dortmund they were also undermined by individual errors, not all were punished but it gave Dortmund plenty of encouragement while their opponents looking uncomfortable.
Rodgers can’t take the rap for that but after Dortmund found themselves twice in 3 v 2 attacks in the opening minutes no visible attempt was made to change the way Celtic lined up.
Full-backs and midfielders seemed intent on attacking to leave a new look central defensive partnership exposed and vulnerable.
When the individual errors kicked in Dortmund took heart, the 5-1 half time scoreline didn’t flatter them.
At the break Rodgers made two like for like changes, nothing really changed other than Dortmund easing back with their work done.
Often as Celtic manager Rodgers has been a master of tactics, identifying the changes needed to transform a match.
In his first season, struggling away to Motherwell Emilio Iaguirre was replaced by Callum McGregor after 30 minutes, a late goal from Tom Rogic ensured a 4-3 win.
A season later at Ibrox was the masterclass. With Jozo Simunovic sent off Rodgers defied logic, sent on Odsonne Edouard as a legend was launched. Graeme Murty’s managerial prospects died that afternoon.
There are less than three weeks to go until Celtic face Atalanta, it is now a fixture that many supporters are fearing, more so on the back of the comments following the hammering from Dortmund.
With Rodgers there is a contrary side that will revel in the expectations that Celtic will be on the end of another heavy defeat, his critics and the dreamers can only be answered on the pitch.
Qualification in the Champions League remains very possible but avoiding repeats of Dortmund while developing a more streetwise approach to facing opponents from Pot 1 and 2 will make a place in the Last 16 Play Off much more attainable.
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