Tom English has delivered a scathing critique of Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, accusing him of naïveté in his tactical approach against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Following a comfortable 6-0 victory over St. Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership, Rodgers seemingly set his team up in a similar fashion for the trip to Signal Iduna Park.
However, the Bhoys were handed a brutal 7-1 defeat by the German side, igniting backlash from both former players and the fanbase.
English, speaking on the Scottish Football Podcast, was particularly critical of Rodgers’ pre-match assurances that Celtic would be resilient and difficult to break down against Dortmund. The reality, he argued, was far from what was promised.
“They set up tonight away against Borussia Dortmund in the same way they set up against St. Johnstone, expecting to have the same kind of control, and that was never going to happen,” English said.
The journalist did not hold back in labelling Rodgers’ strategy as misguided, suggesting the Celtic boss believed his side could control the game in the same manner they did against far weaker opposition in St. Johnstone.
English went on to stress that Celtic appear to have learned nothing from last season’s disappointing Champions League campaign, which was also marred by heavy defeats.
“We heard from Brendan Rodgers yesterday that they are going to try to be hard to beat, hard to play against, and yet they were a soft touch,” English continued.
“They do not seem to have learned anything; these are monumental hidings that Brendan Rodgers is overseeing and they are not getting any better in Europe.”
English further criticised Rodgers for not implementing any of the defensive resilience he had promised ahead of the match, claiming that none of the manager’s pre-game rhetoric translated onto the pitch.
“They are naïve to go and play that way without any nod to the kind of things he said he wanted to do, make them tougher to break down, stay in the fight, be resilient, none of those things applied, none of them, so that is just talk.”
Celtic will now turn their focus to their next Champions League fixture against Atalanta on 23rd October, where Rodgers will be under pressure to improve his side’s European performance.