THE floodgates opened soon after Celtic’s match against last year’s beaten Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund had kicked off in the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday night - and they did not close again until the final whistle blew nearly two hours later.
Yet, Brendan Rodgers will not, despite the torrent of criticism which has flowed in his direction since the crushing 7-1 defeat in Germany, look to make any quick fixes in an attempt to plug the gaps in his defence going forward.
Rodgers has, not for the first occasion in his time as manager at Parkhead, faced calls to abandon his attacking philosophy when his side take on top European opposition in recent days.
The Northern Irishman is not, however, for turning.
“You can't turn a tap on and off,” he said yesterday as he spoke to the media at Lennoxtown ahead of the William Hill Premiership match against Ross County in Dingwall tomorrow. “You can't just turn the tap back off and say you've become super defensive. That's not how we play.”
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Rodgers has had time to dissect the heavy European loss which Celtic suffered in North Rhine-Westphalia in midweek and has, despite the humiliation which his charges suffered, not had cause to change the opinion which he offered in the immediate aftermath.
He is adamant that Celtic, who had won all nine of their matches, including their Champions League opener against Slovan Bratislava last month, before they took on Dortmund, can still achieve their ambition of joining the continent’s elite in the knockout phase next year by playing their natural game.
The former Liverpool and Leicester City manager is adamant that if Callum McGregor and his team mates execute his gameplan better in their forthcoming encounters with Atalanta, RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa they can finish in the top 24 in the league phase and advance.
Asked how he felt when he listened to fans, former players and pundits saying that he needed to change his tactics, he said: “I don't feel anything. I'm not really bothered. That's my honest answer.
“We had a tough one. But I'm experienced enough to know that when the stakes are high and you get high level competition that sometimes you have to expect defeat. If you don't, you're a dreamer. And if you dream in management, you won't be in it long.
“It's great for everyone to dream, and for critics to look and think what the scores might be and this and that. But as a manager and a coach, when you're in the professional game, at times against the Champions League finalists, you might expect that you might actually lose. But we'll learn from it and be better for it.
“There's going to be games that are a challenge for us, but we'll do our very best to get the results that we want. We'll be judged in January once the games are finished and then we'll see where the points total takes us. I have a real belief in the group of players, how they've been working.”
“I felt in terms of our pressing, we probably went a little bit on our own because the early goals spooked us a little bit,” he said. “I think it showed the mentality of the team and probably the lack of experience in the team as well.
“That means that sometimes you can rush and come out of position. If you do that, top players will find the space. So there's a little bit of work for us to do on that front, just pressing at the wrong moments and the wrong times.
“And then clearly with the ball, we could have been better. We were too rushed in our play at times, which then gives good players those possibilities. Before we know it, we've conceded five goals in the first half, so it becomes a challenge in the second half.”
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Rodgers added: “So what do we do? Sit back, have 15 per cent of the ball and probably lose 3-0 or 4-0? We've seen over six months teams that will come to us and sit and sit back and play five at the back and 5-4-1 with no chance to attack.
“Or do you play how you play but know that the mistakes are a learning process? I'd much rather do that and go down with my own vision than by someone who's saying that he's never coached a game in their life or played or done whatever. So I respect the opinion but I don't listen to it and never have.
“You have to move on very quickly, that's the nature of professional sports. You have that day to grieve, which is never nice. But I always think that setbacks are always a great opportunity to grow and bounce back, even to a higher level than what you were when you started the game.
“Like I said, I'm not a dreamer. But we want to be competitive, we want to go in there and be that. I think we showed in the first game, playing at our level, playing everything right, then we have an opportunity.”
The fact that players like Arne Engels, Aam Idah, Auston Trusty and Alex Valle are new to both the Celtic set-up and the Champions League gives Rodgers hope that better is to come in the coming months.
“I think the whole team will constantly evolve and get better,” he said. “I believe that this group of players will improve. So from what I see every day in training, from how we've started the season, there's still areas that I've always felt that we can be better in. Even though we've been consistently at a really good level.
“But that's our world. It's not just about the results. I'm a coach that, even when I'm winning lots of games or we're winning trophies, my ultimate aim is to develop the individual player. Because if the individual player is developing, then the team will be better.”
