Managers and players regularly portray that they don’t listen to any outside noise regarding their performances in the dugout or pitch.
After Celtic’s 6-0 thrashing in Madrid on Tuesday night, the decibel levels were certainly significantly ramped up on Brendan Rodgers and his team. The Irishman insists he has too much self-respect to care a jot what others may think about his team’s poor performance and indeed points return from their Champions League group.
It’s a sign of a top coach – but also an experienced one. The 50-year-old is laser-focused on turning Celtic into a stable team on European football’s main stage. Maintaining that standard beyond Christmas looks to be a tall order this season, but Rodgers’ ambitions have not wavered because of a few tough nights in recent months.
“Firstly, I haven't seen any reaction,” he said. “That is one of the things you do as a manager, with the greatest respect, you don't care so much what people think. It is about what you assess and see yourself.
“I think we started the game really well and played with a real authority in the game that we wanted to play with. We conceded a poor goal and still right up until the sending off we were the team in the ascendency. The sending-off was very harsh, to say the least. Then you see it changes the course of the game.
“I just felt in the second half it is what happens when you are down to ten men. You have to give credit to them when you play with ten men you want to counter-press well, press well and make the pitch as big as you can. The difference in that game is that everything they hit seemed to go in from every angle and from outside of the box and then of course, you are on the end of a not very nice scoreline.
“The players over the course of the games up until that sending-off have been really competitive in the division. We haven't got the points that we would have hoped for or even deserved. That's the reality of where we are at. We have two games to go and we will give everything in those games.”
Much was made of Ange Postecoglou’s gung-ho tactics on Monday evening despite his Tottenham team being reduced to nine men playing against Chelsea. The Australian was never going to alter his instructions to his players. As he highlighted post-match, it ended in a harsh lesson for them, but it will be more beneficial to them in the long run rather than ripping up his playbook and starting over.
There were pundits and supporters on national radio stations and social media claiming Postecoglou was wrong to not recognise his high-line was being continuously exploited by Chelsea due to their numerical advantage.
Rodgers insists adaptability is something he’s found more with experience. He dismissed any notion that his team was guilty of not having a plan B against Atletico, instead pointing out that two weeks prior to Tuesday the players were praised for their performance against the same opponent by playing the game the way he wanted.
He added: “It depends on how you set your team up. Being pragmatic is not the style of most coaches here or those who come into the football club. It is certainly not in mine. I think the word you need to be is adaptable.
“I don't think in any part of the game until the Atletico match when we were playing with 10 men have we ever felt inferior in the game. I think what you do get at Champions League level is the very highest quality and situations that normally seem like nothing in your domestic league turn into an opportunity for the opponent to score and most teams you come up against the forward lines have big quality. That's the main difference. It is not about being pragmatic.
“What we have been - even with nine men in Feyenoord - we've been competitive. People are talking about the squad but a week or so ago when we played the first game against Atletico we were outstanding in the game and adapted in the game to get a result. It is just a real, real challenge when you are playing against top teams with 10 men and it is a learning experience and you have to move on.”
Daizen Maeda will be absent through injury for the next six weeks as a result of his challenge on Mario Hermoso. The Japanese attacker was shown a straight red card after just over 20 minutes, which ultimately led to the severity of Celtic’s downfall. In a double blow to Maeda, he sprained his medial knee ligament in the process.
The referee initially didn’t send him off, but VAR intervened and the decision was soon upgraded, much to the Celtic manager’s frustration. Rodgers admits he would happily ditch VAR in its current format if it were up to him. He would rather accept human error than this new feeling of football turning into a video game.
He said: "If you ask me right now I would get rid of it. Absolutely but if there is money invested from the game which is supposed to make it better then you have to give that every chance.
"If you are asking me now I would just hope we can play our football and we know as humans evolve people will make mistakes and I would rather accept that than what we see at the moment."
