Celtic’s latest Champions League calamity offers another excuse to paraphrase an old quote on the definition of madness.
When it comes to setting up teams in the Champions League, Brendan Rodgers is making a habit of doing the same things over and over. Defying the growing body of evidence that it doesn’t work, he expects a different outcome every time.
Over the Northern Irishman’s two spells in charge, the Scottish champions have now lost seven goals three times against Europe’s elite.
There was that thrashing in Barcelona, then another in Paris before they lost six in Madrid last season. Throw in a five against a PSG first time around and the argument for a more pragmatic approach becomes an open and shut case.
Publicly urged to show more courage in the transfer window, Celtic’s board responded by shattering the club’s record fee twice to sign Adam Idah and Arne Engels during the summer.
Celtic suffered an embarrassing 7-1 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League
It was a chastening night for the Scottish giants as they were totally outclassed by Dortmund
This is the third time Celtic have conceded seven in the Champions League under Rodgers
In return for shifting their approach towards competing in Europe, directors are entitled to expect the same of the manager.
For this group of players, a stuffy defeat on foreign soil would represent progress. After a 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava on the opening night, there was an acceptable way to lose to a Dortmund team functioning on a different level and a seven-goal mauling wasn’t it.
Rodgers is entitled to ask if the players are a bigger issue than the tactics. Faced by superior players, even the most pragmatic teams lose games while Cameron Carter-Vickers, the strongest defender, has developed an unfortunate habit of breaking down the minute he hears the soundcheck for the Champions League theme tune.
Spending £6million doesn’t buy much at this level and the performance of replacement Auston Trusty in Dortmund proved it.
Welcomed back to the renamed Westfalenstadion for the meeting of his old clubs, Murdo MacLeod left a Celtic side renowned for leaking goals like a sieve to make his move to Germany back in the late 80s.
Even allowing for the seismic changes in the modern game, MacLeod and co never lost seven goals in Europe. In contrast, some of the players in the current side have now done it three times.
Rightly, captain Callum McGregor refused to seek refuge in excuses. In their last seven away games against Europe’s elite clubs, Celtic have now shipped 26 goals. Almost four a game, they can’t carry on like this.
It stood to reason that the Signal Iduna Park offered a more formidable challenge than McDiarmid Park and lining up as if they were facing St Johnstone was a triumph for hope over reality.
Play the same 4-3-3 formation and press against Europa League winners Atalanta in Bergamo next time out and further humiliation seems likely.
Rodgers must adapt and stop doing the same things over and over and again in these games
This was not an acceptable way to lose and Celtic can’t carrying on being as open as this
If they play the same way against Atalanta next time out, further humiliation seems likely
Trapped in a no man’s land, the money Celtic rake in for their annual spankings in the Champions League is more than enough to lord it over domestic rivals in the SPFL and nowhere near enough to go toe to toe with the best teams in Europe.
Confronted by this inconvenient truth, it’s the manager’s job to find the middle ground between the all-out attack which blows teams in the Scottish Premiership away and the pragmatism required to stem the flow of blood in Europe against better resourced teams.
While the loss of seven goals makes no tangible difference to hopes of reaching the play-off round as one of the top 24 teams in the new one league format, it does torpedo the notion that this Celtic team is markedly different to the others thrashed on foreign soil under Rodgers. A change of approach might be the only way to find out if they ever will be.