Firstly, there probably isn’t a Celtic fan anywhere in the world that would want Neil Lennon managing the club.
Any comparison with Brendan Rodgers is ridiculous, the current occupant is a manager for the age, a dedicated coach, has his eyes open to developments elsewhere and is fully aware of the tools needed to function as an elite club. The back-up, the analysis, the data and facilities that every leading club has to ensure as little as possible is left to chance.
In saying that Rodgers does have his weaknesses with Tuesday night in Dortmund cruelly highlighting some of his issues.
He has got Celtic playing a devastating brand of football, since the first pre-season friendly against DC United the hoops have been an exciting and attractive watch. Fans are counting down to kick-off time and comparing the current squad with the best that they have watched this century.
But, there is always a but, that doesn’t make Rodgers immune from criticism and a 7-1 defeat in Dortmund is going to be difficult to shake off.
The result was bad enough but to the outsider no attempt was made to influence the match by tactical switches when the first 10 minutes showed Dortmund breaking at will. Before the opening goal there were two incidents of the home side breaking three on two on the Celtic goal. The full-backs were posted missing with the midfield offering no additional security to a central defensive partnership that had 90 minutes in Perth on their CV.
Fans were alarmed by what they were watching, it was a re-run of a bad movie that had seemed confined to the past but suddenly Barcelona, Paris Saint Germain and Atletico Madrid were being discussed.
Lennon isn’t in Rodgers’ league in terms of innovation and his brand of football, stints in Cyprus and Romania have confirmed that working in the media is where he is best suited.
But last night as a Celtic fan and coach he called it out, he sounded the alarm bells as he watched the SPFL champions being dismantled, at half-time there was a 50-50 chance of double figures with the injury to Adeyemi about the only thing that went in Celtic’s favour.
“They let the game get away from them. Celtic were too nice.”
A disappointed Neil Lennon reacts to Celtic’s performance against Borussia Dortmund 🗣️
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Lennon said:
Look, I didn’t expect Celtic to win. I expected them to give a good account of themselves with the form that they had and I also expected them to score, which they did.
But they let the game get away from them. It was too passive. Far too passive with a passing you didn’t do the dirty bits of the game well enough.
They weren’t physical enough, they were too nice and they didn’t turn Dortmund at all. They kept playing the same way, and the results were the same. Goal against, goal against, goal against.
It’s a beautiful game, but it’s ruthless. And Celtic were exposed to name. There’s still lots of mileage in this group for them to go, but they’ve got to analyze and say themselves. We can’t do this away from home against top teams. We have to find another way of playing at times, it’s all right playing good football, but playing in the red areas.
Rodgers has the gratitude of the Celtic support, the transformation in the squad and quality of performances since March has been exceptional, the team is a joy to watch but not last night.
There is no shame in pragmatism, parking the bus isn’t the only alternative to the way he has his side playing.
In Dortmund there were plenty of individual errors, stray passes were commonplace but the players were blown away by high quality opponents that they have never encountered domestically. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
Sacrificing Nicolas Kuhn for Luke McCowan or Reo Hatate would have closed down some of the space found in midfield, McCowan could have sat 10 yards in front of Liam Scales and Auston Trusty to deny those early three against two breaks.
It wouldn’t have been a crime against The Beautiful Game to have tightened up, in possession Daizen Maeda is still a potent weapon with midfielders and full backs capable of pushing up to support Kyogo Furuhashi.
With the new Champions League format Rodgers can stick close to his instincts with an expansive game against opponents from pot three and pot four. It worked well at home to Slovan Bratislava but Atalanta, RB Leipzig and Aston Villa are of a completely different calibre to the other opponents Celtic will face.
After the match Rodgers was defensive and not prepared to admit to making mistakes which is understandable, plenty were watching in glee at an uncomfortable night for the manager and his squad. Doubling down isn’t a solution, there is a place for the pragmatism of Lennon.
There are just three weeks and two matches to go before Atalanta host Celtic. The players are unlikely to play as poorly again but a change in emphasis against the Europa League holders is essential if the good work on Matchday One isn’t to be put in jeopardy by another crushing defeat.
Atalanta are every bit as capable of punishing weaknesses as Dortmund- adapting his tactics to suit high quality opponents is wholly on Rodgers with some lessons from the past under Gordon Strachan, Martin O’Neill and Lennon there to be called on.
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