Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

Rodgers is here for the season even if it means that we are papped out of the cups and end up finishing 3rd in the league.

 

And just when do you start asking questions of Rodgers himself then?

We have not beaten Sevco in over a year. Sevco, the same Klub that is currently still searching for a 4th manager in that time. 1 win in Europe in the past 10 games since Novermber last year... and that 1 win was a scraped 1-0 v Young Boys back in January... a team who at the time were sitting 9th in the Swiss league and were on their 3rd manager of the season.

A team who has scored 2 goals (both in the LC btw) in 341 corner kicks since January 5th... and who have conceded nearly 20 in that same time. Set pieces are 100% the one thing that can be practiced, both taking and defending, on the training pitch. There is a reason they account for roughly 35% of all goals held at World Cups... how many set pieces lead to anything from Celtic? Set pieces are a thing ANY team can practice and potentially get something from.

A staggering lack of imagination, from using the same formation and tactics for years now to increasingly diminishing returns. Players are not wind-up toys, and that predictability means that oppositions know exactly how Celtic are going to come at them and how to contend with the Hoops' attack. The season is now 14 games old, and in 6 of those have been kept to 0. Twice kept to just 1 goal, and only once won 1-0.

That is now 3 wins in the past 9 games overall... one of those 3 wins was the 4-0 v Championship side, Partick Thistle, the other 2 required stoppage time winners v Killie & Motherwell... and in both of those games, the goals came from capitalizing on opposition errors, not because of good football being played by Celtic to carve oppositions open and create those.

The substitutions seem to be the only thing he has up his sleeve to change a game. Little to no thought given to changing shape or altering tactics, just swap out players and hope the ones going on can somehow manage to do a little better than those coming off while expecting/instructing them to do the exact same thing in the system.

Surely a manager who is so highly regarded should not be stunted with such a crippling lack of imagination, let alone observing what other teams are doing against us, makes little to no effort in how to counter that.

How many players have actually improved during his tenure? This is something else we are told is a strength. Matt O'Riley was already well on his way to becoming the player before BR arrived, and as for Kuhn there was a lot made of his fitness when he first arrived in January 2024, which he said that the manager spoke to him about. Kuhn worked on that during summer 2024 and hit the ground running for 2024/25, which is great, but telling someone to get fitter/stronger is not some masterstroke of man management or coaching excellence.

Meanwhile, players have stagnated and regressed. Players brought in have not seen much in the way of consistent improvement, let alone writing off the likes of Inamura or Yamada. Saracchi has barely put a foot wrong, yet KT is a virtual auto-starter. CalMac has been way off it, but starts every game regardless. Colby Donovan has been another promising youngster but one subpar performance and its back to Ralston. Yes, Ralston is an international, but both are vying as back up for AJ (who we have been seriously missing).

And even with the transfer dealings he has always had a lacklustre record in (this is true of every club he has been at, irrespective of budget). Summer 2024 spent £25m on Engels, Trusty and Idah. 12 months on, Idah is gone (for less than we paid for... and everyone thought he was thr problem we were not scoring... he wasn't great, but perhaps more a symptom of a bigger tactical and formational issue than purely him? Just asking the question), while Engerls and Trusty are left on the bench.

Yes, the transfer window was dire, but what the * was BR having the team doing during pre-season, let alone during the International break? What has he been getting paid for, apart from seemingly selecting a lineup on auto pilot and answering a few softball questions, including making insinuations to deflect attention elsewhere.

There are problems at the club in regards to recruitment, no question, but seriously, all of those above are matters that a football manager/coach should be addressing.

Here is a hypothetical for you... put Rodgers in charge of St M, for instance - how well does he do, compared to what Stephen Robinson has been doing over the same last couple of years, given the respective resources available and what each inherited when they walked in the door? Just something to contemplate.

 

Bringing on a 34 year old Forrest to cover a whole wing at wing back. What a masterstroke that they exposed over and over..

 

Brendan, can you just talk us through that performance and the result for your team today?

Well, as you can imagine, I'm a bitterly disappointed with that. We lose the goal, and sometimes that can happen from a set-piece where you get blocked off, but we still had a lot of time left in the game and just didn't really have the craft or the quality in the final third to break that team down.

Give credit to Dundee. Once they get the goal, they defend well.

The second goal is poor from our perspective. We get down on a counter-attack just before half-time, but we had enough of the ball and arriving in the areas often enough, but we just failed to show that better quality that allows you to get the goals that you need, and that's where we've suffered up until now.




Why do you think that is, Brendan? Why do you think you failed with that quality in the final third today?

We've had it over a number of games, but we just haven't scored and been able to make that pass or make the wrong decisions.

So, yes, there are a number of reasons why, but I need to find the solutions in order for us to get scoring goals again.

What have you said to the players at full-time in the changing room?

I just said that this is where you really have to be a man. Because at Celtic it's great from the outside when you know look in and you're winning trophies and playing great football, but you've got to deal with pressure.

Also the result and performance today isn't good enough. It's not acceptable for Celtic.

They've come here a number of times, a number of years, and that today is not their level. So we have to find it






Is this as concerned as you've been at this stage of the season, Brendan? You're going into a big period, and for that kind of display...

Yes, there's absolutely no doubt it's been a struggle from the beginning of the season.

However, we have to stay together and we have to find a way to get the results and get the confidence in the team. We say the speed in the team. We've lost a lot of speed and a lot of goals out of the team, but it doesn't matter now.

I need to find a solution.

Hearts asked a big question yesterday. The team couldn't respond, and of course Hearts will get a major opportunity next weekend. Is this where you really want to see what the players are made of now?

It's not even my thinking about Hearts. We've got to recover from today. We've got to analyse and see where we can be better, and then we get a massive game on Thursday.

Clearly, we're not at the levels that we've been in the past, but it's such a long season. It's still very early. We haven't performed today, and we have to be honest about that.

It's nowhere near the level of what we'd expect.







Is it a problem motivating the players? You've said you need to find solutions as well. Does that come back to you as well, sending out the team and motivating them and getting the guys up? Because there's been a lethargy since the start of the season, hasn't there? You said there's been a struggle.

It's confidence as well. When you're a team that's flowing and scoring goals, then of course the confidence is there. We haven't really had that throughout the season, so then you can be a little bit tentative on the ball and overthink it so much.

We always felt there were goals in the team, so when you can't, you don't look like you're going to score the goals, then that can affect you.

We've got a great bunch of boys at the club, good guys that work hard every day. It's all self-motivating as well.

It's that drive and desire. Like I've said before, this was a period I was really looking forward to because it's the challenge, and you want to show how good you are as a player and how good you are as a team. Today we didn't do that, and we'll have to regroup and go again on Thursday.









Is some of the noise around the club off the pitch having an effect on it? I mean, we saw another demonstration today, they held up the start of the game. Is that having an effect on players' mentality and performances?

I don't know, but what I know is that it was right at the beginning of the game and we've still got a long way to go after that.

It doesn't stop you giving the ball away and losing a goal on a counter-attack. It doesn't stop you getting blocked off on the pitch, so we can't use that as an excuse. We really can't.

Of course, there's been a simmering really all summer and into the beginning of the season. However, we can only focus on the pitch and we can be better on the pitch, for sure.

What can you do to be better as well? I know you've talked about players, but personally

Obviously, you're trying to look at the different ways to set the team up.

Obviously, we change the structure at half-time and try to find different solutions that way. I'll always look at myself first and analyse myself and where I can be better. Like I said, it's my responsibility to try and find a way to get what I can out of the players that we have at this moment.

That's always the first protocol.




There's been mitigating circumstances this season, but do you accept there's a spotlight on yourself as well now to see how you're going to get through this and how you can get the team through this?

Yes, I think so. Listen, when you're at a club like Celtic, it's always on you.

It was on me when I first came back. We got through that. It'll be on us now when we're not at our best level, and we'll get through this as well.

But ultimately, we need to be better. We're not playing with the speed and fluency that this team has done before, and I have to find a way to get us back to that level.

At times like this when you see the dressing room at full time, do you take a wee eye on how certain players are reacting and how they deal with it, if there are opinions, if there's obvious emotion, just to give you indicators of the team?

I know the players care. I know that they care. For the new guys coming in. It's a real eye-opener to the pressures of being at a huge club. You never know that until you're in and you go through the demands of what is required.

But I've got no doubt that the guys want to do well and we have to find a way of scoring the goals and creating the goals that increases the confidence level in the team.






You made a couple of changes at half-time. Did you feel that you picked the right team to win the game today?

If you lose a game you'll always be criticised. That's all a part of it. We're trying to get goals.

I'm playing a boy in Benjamin Nygren in midfield who's the highest scoring midfield player that we have at the club. He's coming in from last year, we're getting 16 goals. In a team that is suffering for goals, you want to try and look to your goal scorers.

We've got Yang coming in on the side. It's an area we know what we're suffering in. He's coming in to try and make an impact. It didn't quite work for him and that's on me.

As you say, hindsight's a great thing. You lose a game, you take the responsibility as the manager. I accept that.









Just on the protests Brendan, what's your message to protestors to avoid that going forward?

I'm not going to tell the supporters what to do. They're frustrated. They're the heart of this club.

I just say that after that, we had still a long, long period of time to put a performance in and we didn't do that. It was at the beginning.

The fans are the heart of this club. The passion is here. It's their life. It's their love and they want to see the team doing well.

We had enough time in the game and enough ball in the game to do better for them and we didn't do that. So it's on us.

Is this as tough and as worrying spell as you've known?

Listen, it's not all linear and all smooth right the way through the season, that's for sure. I think the challenge from the summer now leading into here, we lost a lot of firepower, a lot of goals out of the team.

There's no way you'll go into a race and be given the keys to a Honda Civic, and as you take off, it's said, "We want you to drive it like a Ferrari." It's not going to happen.

So until something changes, I have to find the solutions because, like I said, goals, speed, everything has come out of the team, and we need to find a way to be better.






You actually feared this could happen deep down? This could become a possibility?

However I felt, I still have to find a way. It was clear in the summer, but it's really the past now.

There's nothing we can do about it. We had the opportunities to do what we needed to do. It didn't happen.

So now it's finding ways, whether it's 4-3-3, whether it's 3-4-3, whether it's 3-5-2. We're trying to look at all these different permutations within the team, but ultimately you need that quality to break down teams that are low on the pitch, and for us this season, that's been the real challenging aspect for us. But it's a challenge that I relish

I want to be here to, as I said, to make the difference for the players that are here at this moment.

Can you expect to be backed in January?

My immediate concern is now. Celtic is more than one window. Celtic is not just about January, it's about the future and what I want to be able to do is make sure that at this moment in time we're the best that we can be and then obviously planning and preparation is already underway for January.

It's a small window and I hope that we can improve that and then you've got the window after that. But at this moment in time, my focus is really trying to get the team, the guys that are here to be at the best level.

 

He can * off whatever is going on with the club between the board and manager is without a doubt impacting the results on the pitch.

We can still rightly keep our anger and protests against the board going, but separately, Rodgers needs binning as well and he needs to feel the pressure of this now. It is his decision to start certainly players, he once claimed to have full say on transfers but then doesnt play almost any the signings we've made since his return.

Talks about wanting to play a certain way, more urgency and so on, but for months, crossing over from last season, not a single * thing has changed.

He cant adapt, he cant learn, hes stuck and fresh out of ideas, he needs taking out the back and old yeller-ing

 

Not so sure , this run of results, lack of goals etc should see him gone if it carries on though November

 

It would need need to get a lot worse before sacking him would be justified..

And then who do you get? Can't trust our board to get someone in..they'd probably go for Broonie

 

We have been a slow puncture since the League Cup final last year really. This Summer the tyre has burst.

Unfortunately the longer it goes on, the less convinced I am that more signings in the Summer would have been the magic bullet.

Recruitment was poor but at this stage we have brought in Iheanacho, Tounekti, Balikwisha, Tierney, Nygren without even counting the project types. Could it have better? Yes absolutely. Much better.

But they guys we have brought in havent heralded any kind of improvement at all and I dont beleive anymore that changing the manager is irrelevent to that.

There is more to be had out of this squad despite it being less than stellar.

Our style has been figured out and well countered by run of the mill SPL managers. We need a change. If Rodgers cant do that from coaching standpoint then hes part of the problem.

 

That Honda Civic comment, christ almighty..

Bin him and get Ange on the phone pronto.

 

If he doesn't want to go out, he needs to be dragged out.

It seems to me that he's lost the boardroom and doesn't want to lose the dressing room as well, so he's playing his old favoutite senior players, regardless of how * they are.
When was the last time Hatate had a decent game.

 

The board stuff absolutely matters in the context of what I was writing and still does regarding everything with the club.

Them and Rodgers needs to go.

 

Bizarre statement, given that Dundee have a fraction of our resources. A Lada just beat his Honda.

 

So you don't think we've got the players to beat Dundee. Or draw.

 

That comment will get the players running through brick walls for you.

* idiotic thing to say.

 

I don't believe we have the players to compete over 38 games of the league, win 2 cups and challenge in Europe no. Squad unfit for purpose. Take any isolated game you want we aren't winning them all.

 

It's not one game. It's every game this season. His tactics are abysmal - ineffective and terrible to watch. We still have the best pool of players in the league but not good enough to compete in Europe.

 

He says it’s up to him to fix it and improve but he plays exactly the same style every week. We never dribble or try especially through the middle, we over pass mainly backwards, Don’t know what we are practicing when it comes to corners as we are as well just giving the ball to the opposition. And I can’t remember the last time we scored from a free kick outside the box not even a decent effort.
He plays 4 at the back with the rb and lb occasionally moving forward why not actually just play 3 and use 5 proper midfielders.

 

Remembers me more and more of the covid season. Performances are bad for months and the manager uncapable to chance it. Some * are still making excuses. The same people were responsible for us throwing the 10-a-row because we didn't act in time to turn it round. Scrapping results with a bad performance is a sign of champions when you in most other games convince.

Aye, our squad is very limited. But if people really think no other coach can get more out of these guys, then they are just *.

 

He’s right we have lost a lot of fire power