Celtic's Brendan Rodgers looks to transfer window to escape heat of shock Gibraltar defeat

That may seem a little over the top but in any case, Rodgers was calm in the face of some early discord as he quietly maintained that he expects Celtic to see off the amateur side without further drama when the teams meet in Glasgow on Wednesday night.

Before then, though, he will look to make further additions to a bloated squad that appears to have gleaned little from the past two European campaigns.

“I think there will be one or two more changes,” said Rodgers. “It is still very early so we are still looking and assessing the squad, even though we have these competitive games. I have always felt we would need a few more in. The club are working hard trying to help us and do that and let’s see if we can do that over the coming weeks. “

The Celtic manager has had three weeks to work with the current squad, with Moussa Dembele, Rodgers’ first signing, featuring against Lincoln Red Imps. Other than that, though, it was a familiar looking team on Tuesday night – and with familiar deficiencies. Efe Ambrose was culpable for the concession of the only goal of the game, although the Celtic manager pointed to the surface rather than to the track record of the Nigerian internationalist, who has been linked with a move to Fenerbahce.

“We were playing on the astroturf pitch which wasn’t ideal, we were playing in temperatures into the mid-30s, we dominated the game but we failed to take our chances,” said the Celtic manager. “They had one clearance up the pitch, it bounced awkwardly on the astroturf and the guy goes in and scores. It is disappointing but in the course of these qualifying games, the second legs at Celtic Park were always going to be very important.

“We had lots of chances and that, having watched the game and looking at it from the side, it will be a totally different game when we get to Parkhead. The astroturf was awkward, it which wasn’t one of the more modern ones, was a real leveller. But give credit to them, they played with 5 at the back, 5-4-1, and we couldn’t break them down. When we did we hit the crossbar four times, and their keeper made some great saves and that happens sometimes in football.”

Asked whether he was surprised that UEFA allowed Champions League level games to be played on plastic surfaces, Rodgers voiced his concern although it is to his credit that he did not look to use the playing surface as an excuse for what was a desperately poor performance.

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“You would think in that competition, it would be the case and this is a real old-school one, as well,” he said. “When you pass the rubber is popping up on to you. It is not ideal but we can’t have an excuse.”

Celtic face Wolfsburg on Saturday afternoon at Celtic Park before the second leg against Lincoln Red Imps next week. Meanwhile, former Celtic player and manager Neil Lennon has played down the reaction to the defeat, echoing Rodgers by maintaining that the Parkhead side will get through the tie.

Lennon experienced both triumph and disaster throughout his time at Celtic – he was part of the Hoops squad when Gordon Strachan’s side were hammered 5-0 by Artmedia Bratislava and his own managerial debut as permanent manager for the club ended in a 3-0 result against Braga in the UEFA Champions League. He did, though, go on to take Celtic into the last 16 of Europe’s premier competition, notching up a few memorable excursions along the way.

“I think the furore over it is way over the top,” he said yesterday in reference to the reaction to Tuesday’s result. "These results can happen, it is so early. It's only Brendan's first game in charge; he's still getting to know the players. I didn't see the game but the pitch was a shocker, conditions were difficult and a 1-0 deficit, Celtic will turn that around. I expect them to go through and reach the next round."

Lennon was also reluctant to make a comparison between the Artmedia result and the 1-0 defeat to the policemen and customs officers of Lincoln Red Imps.

READ MORE: Erik Sviatchenko promises Celtic fan the players will fix their dodgy job against Lincoln Red Imps next week

"It’s too negative and they’re not out the competition yet," he said.

"If they go out of the competition then you can label those comparisons but they’ve got another game at Celtic Park and like I say I expect them to come through comfortably. It’s unfair to compare them to other bad results that Celtic have had over the years because it’s a two-leg tie."