Alan Stubbs expects Rodgers to tweak his tactics in Europe after 7-1 hammering in Dortmund…
The former Celtic and Everton defender has outlined his expectations on how he expects Celtic’s campaign in the Champions League to pan out after the Helter Skelter start with a 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava followed by that bruising 7-1 thrashing in Germany against Borussia Dortmund. Alan Stubbs, speaking to BestBettingSites.com reckons that Brendan Rodgers will adjust his tactical approach in the remaining away fixtures as a result of what happened to his side at the Westfalenstadion.
Approach will be slightly different
“Even though Brendan said he won’t change his approach, I think he will change it slightly when Celtic play away from home. They can play beautiful, front-footed football at Celtic Park, there’s no doubt about that, but when they go away from home, I do think his approach will be slightly different. It will have to be.
Does the success in Scotland ramp up the pressure in Europe? Should they be looking to get into the playoff reckoning?
“Brendan’s record in Europe is certainly something that he’ll look to improve this season, because it hasn’t been great. Celtic’s dominance of domestic football in Scotland does put the Champions League into sharper focus,” Stubbs noted.
“When you look at this new format, you would like to think that Celtic would get into the play-off positions at a minimum. That has to be the minimum requirement for Brendan in the Champions League this season, finishing from ninth to twenty-fourth in the table.
“Looking at the points, realistically, to finish in those positions, it looks like you might get away with nine points, but ten to fourteen is the benchmark, and Celtic already have three on the board,” Stubbs noted.
Atalanta away is going to be tough
“I look at the games, they’ve got Atalanta away next, which is going to be tough, so you wouldn’t expect them to get something there. Then they’ve got Leipzig at home, Club Brugge at home, and then Zagreb away. Those are the games where they need to start putting points on the board. If they can take six points from those games, then they’re almost there in terms of making that play-off. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s certainly doable.
Looking further ahead
“Looking further ahead, they’ve got Young Boys and then Villa away. It’s going to be tough, but it’s achievable. I think if they don’t get the required points to finish in the play-off positions then the Champions League would be looked at as a failure for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic this season. It would be really disappointing if Celtic’s European campaign ended at the group stage.”
Our next 7 matches should give us a great indication as to where we actually are, as an overall team/squad, especially with the difference in challenges faced on a game by game basis?
To start off, we would be expecting a front foot approach, with our strongest available 11 against the sheep?
Yet can we expect the same approach taken by the same players in Italy 4 days later?
Our style of play still centers around Calmac and his role within the team, yet we aren’t really covered, if calmac was to pick up an injury, and still depend upon him being able to play every minute of every game at present?
Even with forrest picking up an injury now by the looks of things, could mean Rodgers having to turn to Palma and yang, which he has been fairly reluctant to do, so far this season to date?
There are other positions also to be considered, like who should start between kyogo and idah on a game by game basis?
Therefore, with the amount of unpredictable outcomes involved within todays game, then don’t see how Rodgers has any other choice but to be looking at the next 7 games, upon a game by game basis?
Certainly believe that he will be be looking at putting plenty of preparation work into the games beforehand, but no amount of planning can dictate the outcome either?
The strange thing remains, as the trip to atalanta could be classed as the highest profile game over the next 7, yet there is a case to be made that it holds the least relevance of importance to ourselves also, over this 7 game period?
Funny and strange old game at times all the same?