Former Hoops striker Chris Sutton has criticised Brendan Rodgers’ approach to Celtic matches in Europe, believing he should change the team’s tactical approach when playing teams at a higher level.
Fans were again left disappointed by a big European encounter under Rodgers on Thursday night, losing 2-0 at home to Valencia having been thoroughly outclassed throughout the 90 minutes.
Celtic’s style of passing and possession play did not help the team’s cause, with the Spaniards invited to press high up the pitch and force errors throughout the first-team.
For Sutton, the match was indicative of Rodgers’ lack of tactical Plan B at this level. He is now calling for the Hoops boss to change things up.
Writing in his weekly Daily Record column, the pundit explained:
Rodgers wants Celtic to play from the back, do it the right way. I admire that to a point, but not beyond the point where it’s been shown time and again the team can’t do it against the better sides in Europe.
Eventually, Celtic give it away under pressure. The touch goes, the passes start going out of the park. You’re just inviting trouble and offering the opposition a comfortable way into the game. Valencia wasn’t the first time. It’s happened loads of times. It even happened domestically at Ibrox and Rodgers surely has to take responsibility.
I’m not advocating just kicking it anywhere, but there are times you need to adapt and change.
Take Thursday, for example. Celtic started well, moved it well, but there was a 10-minute period when Scott Brown started giving the ball away and it spread through team-mates like wildfire.
At that point, there is nothing wrong with clipping a few balls up the pitch to try to turn opposition. You need a breather. To take some pressure off yourself to regain composure even just for five minutes.
It’s likely a conclusion that many Celtic fans will have reached themselves, having watched Rodgers’ fall well short of expectations in matches both home and away in continental competition.
Right now it’s a tale of two Celtics – one that can dominate domestic competition and one that can’t compete in Europe – with seemingly no budging in Rodgers’ philosophy regardless of opposition.
Ultimately we want results and we’ve shown before over the last decade that we can produce big performances and secure big results with limited players against star studded sides.
Those results often came due to defensive discipline, committed performances and a no nonsense approach, can Rodgers sacrifice his style of football to deliver what fans want?