Ex-Celt Alan Stubbs has weighed into Brendan Rodgers tactical approach in the Champions League. That’s after last Tuesday’s 7-1 hammering at the hands of Borussia Dortmund in the iconic Westfalenstadion…
Stubbs, who had a five-year spell at Celtic and won five trophies, described Champions League football as a “completely different level” to the Scottish Premiership. He believes that Brendan Rodgers may have had his “judgement clouded” in Germany to go toe-to-toe with last season’s finalists after a brilliant opening day victory over Slovan Bratislava and Celtic’s domestic dominance.
And Alan Stubbs disagrees with Brendan Rodgers Dortmund assessment. He struggles to see how damaging defeat can help Celtic players as he considers whether the Celtic manager was tactically naive in his approach to the game in Germany.
Sticking to your principles
“It all depends on how you look at it. There will be certain people who will say, ‘Well done for sticking to your principles and what you want to do.’ There will be others saying it’s naive.
“The Scottish Premiership and the Champions League are completely different ball games and when you’re coming up against a team that are recent finalists, the quality is going to be at a level that you’ve not played against.
Celtic were completely opened up
“Celtic were completely opened up on the night and they were given a hammering by a very talented Dortmund team. I don’t know how beneficial it is for the players to take a hammering like that in terms of confidence, despite Brendan’s recent comments saying that is an experience his players will benefit from,” the former Celtic centre-half said, speaking to BestBettingSites.com this week.
Celtic are a cut above the rest in Scotland
Stubbs gets that Celtic are a cut above the rest in Scotland, and he believed that this domestic dominance emboldened Brendan Rodgers to have a go in Dortmund.
“Celtic have been fantastic in the league, regularly blowing teams away,” Stubbs noted. “Some of their football has been really, really good. They’ve looked on a completely different level to the other teams in Scotland and are a cut above the rest. I don’t think that any of the teams in Scotland can live with their pace, and how quickly they move the ball.
“The Champions League is a totally different level. I think Brendan may have had his judgement clouded after Celtic’s very impressive result against Slovan Bratislava at home on the opening night.
Celtic were excellent that night
“Celtic were excellent that night, but there’s a difference between playing Slovan Bratislava at Celtic Park and Borussia Dortmund. To go to Dortmund and still try to play that style of football against a team that is so quick on the counter, with better players – Celtic were completely undone,” Stubbs admitted.
Next up for Celtic in the Champions League is Atalanta away. That’s on Wednesday 23 October and as things stand Celtic will take the game to the Europa League winners and we’ll see have to wait and see what happens! How spectacular would it be if it actually worked?
