Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

Subs are always the same. Tounekti really our only hope but you know he’s getting pulled off and when he does may as well end the game there and then. Why not keep creative players on when you’re needing a goal. Try change the formation maybe or take on Donovan who’s more of an attacking threat than Ralston.

It’s just change Wingers, CF and CMs every time and usually makes us weaker.

 

Maeda thought he was gone
Yang thought he was gone
Iheanacho filming himself in a public park two weeks ago albeit has shown promise
Balikwisha looks miles off it
Forrest has lost it
Kenny never had it
Yamada unwanted now essentially surplus
Osmond B team player
Tounetki shown genuine promise he can be quality

That is our forward options. You could have prime Pep in charge and we'll struggle to score. The board left us in this position not the manager he was basically telling anyone who would listen we needed forward options and we still absolutely * it and had to go back to his phonebook to get a striker in on a free

 

Maybe, its because it was our third game in 6 days and expecting to play Tounetki for 90 mins in all 3 of them is a bit much? The reason we are weaker in latter stages of games is again because we absolutely * the bed during the transfer window and now don't have a good enough squad of players. This narrative that Brendan's formation and sub choices are the issue when we've all just witnessed that summer window needs to stop, its so far from the truth its not funny.

 

Absolutely 100% spot on, the number of people on here who can't see the big picture is frightening.

 

If I was to criticise Rodgers for anything it would be for not rotating the side more against Thistle last week considering we were going in to 2 weeks of Thursday Sunday games

 

I hope Brendan watches the big teams in the EPL - Arsenal once again scoring from 2 headers - long throws, corners, etc now back in fashion with the so called big teams - Brendan please start mixing up your tactics. You need to come up with a plan B & plan C - the tippy tappy stuff is an eyesore. Get ur set pieces coached properly.

 

Cmon mate you can't blame the manager for us being useless from set pieces, it's not and never will be his fault

 

Its a bit early in the season to be using fatigue and squad depth no?

We made 5 changes for the hibs game. Ralston, sarrachi, engels, mccowan, iheanacho are more than reasonable options to come in and expect to beat hibs at home.

 

Throwing the ball forwards would be a start

 

So shoehorning Daizen into right wing as we don't have a suitable right winger in the squad, and then having to bring on players like Forrest and Kenny to get a goal are acceptable options to you? Forrest and Kenny would struggle to get in Hibs team. As would Yang. Ralston is poor, never been good to start games. It is not too early in the season to mention squad depth, at no point anytime in the season are the same XI going to play 3 games in 6 days. Squad depth was a massive concern the minute the window shut, hence why Brendan cracked open the phonebook and had to get Iheanacho in on a free or we'd be even more short. So your tired and boring argument that we should be winning every single week simply doesn't wash. If we'd done the required work in the summer and have adequate quality on the bench we would be.

2 of the players you mentioned - Sarrachi and Ralston are defenders anyway, we kept a clean sheet, our defensive record this season is good, I don't have major issues with our defence. Our defence aren't why we didn't beat Hibs. My issue is with the forward 3 players. We currently have 1 winger who had impressed - Tounetki on the left. We have no one currently who looks a good fit on the right. We have 1 striker in Iheanacho who has played well and scored, but isn't fully fit. Apart from those 2 players, we have Yang, Forrest, Balikwisha, Kenny, an out of form Daizen and Yamada (if we see him again) to bring on or to compete for the right wing slot. To suggest thats enough to win 3 times in 6 days to me is preposterous. Its massively lacking in quality and shows to me that we are in big trouble if we're relying on the bench late into games.

 

Ive never argued we should expect to win every week. Not sure where you are getting that from.

We played hibs, red star and partick in 6 days and one once against a scottish championship side.

You are insinuating expecting anything better than that is preposterous.

We have been generally been poor all season unless up against grossly overmatched scottish teams. Whenever we play a half decent organised team we look poor a struggle to win.

You refuse to consider any possible reasons for medoicre displays other than poor recruitment. There have been issues in the side that predated the summer window. If this is the best rodgers can do with this squad of players id be concerned.

 

You cant lose Kuhn, Kyogo, Idah, Jota and have an out of sorts Maeda and be anywhere near the same team unless recruitment is absolutely spot on. Tounekti looks a real find although it is early days. Balikwisha looks dreadful but so did Kuhn when he first came in. Still though, one that hasn't hit the ground running. Iheanacho has quality but should be more of an Idah where he offers something off the bench or plays a certain amount if games.

Added to that O'Riley has been replaced by Engels and now Nygren who both aren't fit to lace his boots. Schmeichel looks his age(ironically same as me lol), Johnston is long term injured.

All in all it is pretty fecking catastrophic and the cheque book will need to be opened in a big way over the next 12 months.

 

So you agree that last season we needed reinforcements and the summer window is a big one, why then, are you expectations for this season the same given the fact that our squad now is considerably worse than it was last season because of the summer transfer window? Why do you expect Brendan to perform as well or better than last year with a lesser team? It makes absolutely zero sense and tears apart any logic you claim to have in your argument.

The summer window was huge for us, we all knew we needed to add quality and shift a few on. We moved some quality on and didn't bring enough in. The reason we look poor against a good team really is as simple as this is the worst Celtic squad we've had in years so we're not at the standard you'd expect. Brendan has had one hand tied behind his back this season by that window. There's no defending our recruitment and I will absolutely not tolerate any * pish suggestions that we are currently well equipped for what's expected of us this year. We aren't. If we have a successful season, it will be because Brendan guided us there despite the board. Imagine we had a lesser manager in charge of that current squad. Doesn't bear thinking about.

 

You are absolutely on the money, and this is exactly why I am sick to the back teeth of so many people on here wilfully ignoring this and just saying its Brendan's fault for poor tactics and subs. We all knew what the team needed over the summer. Brendan practically begged for it for months. And he didn't get it. Had he been backed properly and we were performing like this I'd totally understand the criticism. Given the fact that he has been shat on from a great height, has committed himself here for the season when he would have been entitled to walk, I think the very least he deserves is some respect from our fanbase. Yet all I read after every game is the same board bootlickers trying to claim its his fault and that he "has enough" to be winning every week. Really is pathetic.

 

I dont expect Rodgers to do as well as last season. I would expect better performances from him than what we have seen so far. I would expect him to be more flexible in his system. Yes our team is weaker than last season. Lets not over egg the pudding though. We should expect to be able to scores goals with what we have against the level of opposition we have been playing. There are 6 teams in the SPL so far this year that have outscored us. Anytime Rodgers comes up against a team that isnt a jobber SPL level team nowadays we look bang average and odds on to drop points.

His record and performances against a dreadful rangers team going back to december last year has been awful. Thats not all on recruitment. His set up has been found wanting there. Failure to secure the Scottish Cup against an out of sorts Aberdeen team was poor. Failure to get past an extremely limited Karait team is poor. Relying on late goals to get past teams like St Mirren and Kilmarnock is poor. Any game in isolation of course can be excused as one off. It happens again and again though.

His recruitment also worries me, because the players we do bring in under him generally arent improving. We also have 6 central midfielders yet none of them look overly comfortable playing his system. If hes a world class manager he needs to find ways of improving the level of performances.

The inadequacy of the Summer is clearly the main issue as to why the team has regressed but his system which he is sticking steadfastly to was beginning to misfire well before the Summer. So to refuse to consider any possibility that Rodgers system is an issue is not for me. We arent going to go out and buy him a brand new team for next season so hes going to need to find ways of getting more out of what he has. He deserves time bed in the new players but if at the end of the season, the performances we are seeing at the moment havent really improved then I cant say Id be too upset about giving someone else a go with this group of players.

 

You're beating round the bush. Lets cut the waffle. You're correct we are weaker. That is 100% down to the fact that we didn't recruit players in the window. That's on the board, not Brendan. Its also why we have other teams outscoring us. I don't care who the manager is that is never an acceptable Celtic squad. So how can any of that be attributed to Brendan?

Kairat while an individual result is bad, is also a result of the board and their recruitment. The arrogance of going into that tie after selling Kuhn and bringing in no players despite knowing we desperately needed them is why we're out. Brendan may have won that tie despite them, but let's get to the root cause of the issue and its again board and recruitment.

Rangers games are a concern, no arguments from me there. Needs to be better. I still don't think we've lost a particularly meaningful game to them in ages though. However, I do agree needs to be better going forward.

He shouldn't be in a position where he has to make do and get the best out of an inadequate group of players in his 3rd season here. We should have backed him and we should be stronger than ever. Its not acceptable to have a weaker team due to neglect. Its not acceptable to be shocking in the transfer market. Its not acceptable to keep unhappy players against their wishes. Stop again glossing over the root cause of these issues and lay the blame where it needs to be laid. Changing manager makes no difference when what's above him is fundamentally broken. No manager should have a squad of this state.

 

He still has a squad better than anyone else in the SPL (and teams of the calibre of Kairat).

You are mistaking the relative weakness of this Celtic squad vs past Celtic squads with the strength of the competition.

We should not be routinely struggling to beat weaker competition just because our squad is not as strong as it was at another given point in time. We should not be 6th or 7th in goals scored in the SPL with the squad we have.

Measure the squad vs the opposition. There needs to be more to a Celtic manager than just having better players and a bigger budget than the rest of the league.

 

Maybe but Id like to see a plan B.
I watched Alloa score twice against Rangers reverting to route one. St mirren, dundee, motherwell not only all scored but created multiple chances playing fast and direct.

We barely managed a shot on goal against them. Its not a massive stretch to envision just trying to change it up a bit. Be more direct, get to the touchline and win some corners. Try and buy a free kick or two, or even just a simple ball over the top that Brugge did so many times. But we seem to go side to side and back and side to side.

Against Kairat we barely created a chance at home so away we did the exact same away and barely created a chance.

Im not expecting us to suddenly become set piece experts or long ball merchants. But some sort of plan to mix it up should be possible.

 

I totally disagree on that again. For the first time in years there are players across Scotland that walk into our team in the forward areas. Shankland, Miovski, Martin Boyle, Bowie, Braga to name a few. All of them would be starting or coming off the bench ahead of Yang, Forrest, Kenny etc. So to state it yet again that is why other teams are outscoring us. Not because of tactics, not because of management, because plain and simply our attacking options are weaker than they have been in years.

You are correct we should be scoring more goals than other teams, but I can guarantee you other teams will outscore us this season. Why? Because we didn't sign players. You can dress up your argument any way you like but the simple fact remains, summer transfer window has wrecked our squad and we aren't at the level required.

 

I do wonder when we get Tierney and AJ fully fit, if he will toy with a 4231 again.

Last year with Taylor inverting next to McGregor it didn't make that much sense to have two deeper CM's but much prefer AJ and KT bombing on. With another deeper CM, might also liberate McGregor a bit more to drive forward and break the lines, he can only really do it when one of the 8's drop now.