Brendan Rodgers Drops Bombshell on Celtic Tactics: Angeball Still Alive and Kicking Under New Boss’s Reign
The Hoops manager’s tactics have come under fire as his side surrendered the lead in the title race.
IT’S not just Alistair Johnston who might need protective headwear for Celtic this week.
One of the Canadian’s old ice hockey helmets might come in handy for Brendan Rodgers with so much flak flying around and questions over his tactics and changes to the way Celts are playing. “I might need to borrow it!” The Hoops boss quipped.
Rodgers laughed it off but the Irishman has been irked by some of the suggestions he’s ripped up the Ange Postecoglou Treble winning game plan and replace the gung-ho relentless running with a slow build up passing game. It’s simply not true, is the claim. In fact, Rodgers is adamant nothing has changed when it comes to the way he wants Celtic to play. He said: “I’ve heard the bits and pieces around about slower build up. But that’s not the instruction. The instruction is to get through the pitch with speed quickly.
“There is absolutely nothing asked of the players any different to what they have done before. I’ve heard how the style has changed and how the system has changed.
“But the system hasn’t changed one iota. Not one. The full-backs you see here are still coming inside. The wingers still go on the outside.
“Runs, when they happen, on the inside. That’s always the challenge when you come into a winning team and I am obviously conscious of that.
“But also knowing that the philosophy isn’t too dissimilar to how I’ve worked before. Whether that’s 3-4-3 or adjusting it.
“So the system hasn’t changed, the style hasn’t asked to be changed – because my teams are fast and dynamic – but what we most definitely have missed are the players who bring that element to the game.”
The tactics are the same but the personnel has changed. Rodgers lost Jota, Aaron Mooy and Carl Starfelt in the summer. Reo Hatate has been out pretty much all season, as has Cameron Carter-Vickers – who will return at Motherwell tomorrow.
Daizen Maeda missed matches through injury and internationals and Johnston has also been absent for chunks of time. The ones who have come in have also suffered a knock in confidence of late – and that is what Rodgers is convinced has let to the slower, safety-first nature of the passing game.
And it’s his task to bring it back now Celtic have been usurped at the top of the table. Rodgers knows they’ll need to find their mojo quick and if they are feeling the tension now, they ain’t seen nothing yet.
He said: “That’s the job, to try to give that to the players. We are not even at the pressure point, you know.
“So you have to help the players rather than play sidewards to make that forward pass. Listen, not every single pass in the game can go forward.
“Sometimes you have to change your attack to attack better by making one pass but our game is about progression through the field to score goals and create opportunities. That has never, ever changed. And, of course, in that pre-Christmas period, getting through the pitch with speed, everything was there.
“It’s the ability to maintain that mindset and aggression which is key. The players coming back can really make the difference, but our job is to help the players, support the players and guide them so that when they do cross the line they can play with that confidence and also manage the pressure.
“There have been so many games when it should have been dead and buried and we’ve created anxiety in the stands with our play.”
It’s now over to rivals Rangers to see how they cope with sitting on top of the table and having someone breathing down their necks. The hunted have become the hunters, but Rodgers doesn’t think the switch in positions will tip the tension towards the other side of the city and ease it on his men.
He said: “I don’t really look at it that way. The team that is top of the league after 38 games deserves to win it.
“We were in front at the beginning of the season and had been up until last week, but for me nothing changes. Being in front was never going to change the preparation for this game.
“We want to play creative, attacking football with intensity. So nothing changes. So first or second? Those are pressures which come from elsewhere.”
Carter-Vickers slotting back into the side will help. The big defender is a dominating figure and an inspirational presence. The campaign has almost been a write off for the centre back and Rodgers knows his fitness over the remaining months of the season will be crucial after breaking down on previous comebacks.
o assess him in training and he feels good and he feels fine. It’s then about managing the minutes really.
“But him staying fit can be a key factor for us, so keeping him fit now will be him until the end of the season hopefully and maybe then he can get a really good pre-season. And the base that he never had. Carter-Vickers will wrap the ball forward quickly with confidence. The dynamism in midfield which, instead of playing backwards, will get on the half turn and play the forward passes.
“So that definitely changes how the team might look. There’s no magic formula to it, it’s hard work, it’s mentality, and take that into your games and see where it takes you.”