BRENDAN Rodgers has shown himself capable of most things during his relatively short but successful tenure as Celtic manager but trying to convince his squad that they are the equal of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez or Sergio Aguero is beyond even his famous man-management skills.
“You can’t kid players,” he admits, a rare concession that not even his most motivational or inspirational talk can elevate those under his charge to believe they possess the same level of ability as some of the best footballers in the world.
Sometimes a different approach is needed. Rodgers, then, will not gather his players together ahead of the Champions League group matches against Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, in particular, and try to persuade them that individually they are on the same page as Robert Lewandowski or Neymar. He may be almost evangelical in his belief that he can make people better but sometimes a different route is needed to, hopefully, reach the same destination.
Aside from perhaps the home game against Anderlecht, Celtic will be the underdogs in their five other Champ-ions League group matches. It requires a different mindset for a side used to asserting their dominance on a weekly basis on the domestic front, and one that will lean heavily on a collective effort rather than asking individuals to outperform players earning 10 times their weekly wage. It is why he won’t try to persuade his charges that they are something they are not.
“What you have to do is recognise and acknowledge where they are at as players because that is why they’re there,” he said candidly. “That’s why they are at that level and playing consistently at that level. But what you’re always doing, and what I’ve always said, is you’re trying to create a situation, as I reference in my programme notes every game, where they can play without fear.
“You have to believe always. That’s always been the trait of teams I’ve tried to put out. Yes, they are going to be facing players who are on £200,000, £250,000 a week, and if you give them time and space they’ll show you that.
“But, I don’t care what type of player you are or the level you’re at – it’s not nice if you’ve got someone right there [in your face] for a lot of the game.
“So you make it difficult, and be hard to beat, and if you’ve got 11 players like that and a squad that’s fighting and not easily beaten, then you give yourself a chance.
“Of course there is always that apprehension. You are playing against so-called world-class players – which a lot of the guys we will play over the course of the Bayern Munich and PSG games will be – but you can make it really, really difficult for them. And there is the spirit that we’ve fostered as well as the level of our game.”
These are matches that will test Rodgers’ tactical nous, too. Celtic play primarily on the front foot in league and cup matches, hoarding possession and pushing the opposition back into their own penalty box. In European games, however, especially on the road, they will likely see the ball about as often as a solar eclipse. Mastering a counter-attack game is another new challenge for the manager.
“For us, the beauty of this [competition] is it allows us to show a different side of our game,” he said. “Domestically we have a lot of domination of the ball. We have a big counter press to get it back quickly and disorganise teams very quickly.
“This is a level now where you can develop your counter-attack. It’s a different level of football. At this level, a lot of it is about the counter-attack. We don’t get a lot of chances to do that domestically so it gives us a chance to improve our game and how we play. Hopefully that will be the case.”
That both PSG and Bayern will see themselves as possible champions serves to highlight the difficulty of the challenge facing Celtic.
“Two of the teams in our group would class themselves as potential Champions League winners,” Rodgers said. “Both have made that pretty clear in their goals that that’s where they want to be. PSG keep making steps closer and closer each year. Obviously they had a horrendous night in the Camp Nou last year when they went out despite scoring a goal over there. So they’ve strengthened again by getting the likes of Neymar in.
“So they are clearly one of the favourites as are Bayern Munich with the history they’ve got. So both those teams will be close, for sure. At least quarter-finalists.”
Rodgers will hope for celestial intervention, too. He does not seem the sort of man to leave things to the capricious nature of fate but a conversation in a taxi a few years ago with Carlo Ancelotti, then of Chelsea and now the Bayern manager, has stuck in his mind.
“I know Carlo reasonably well,” Rodgers said. “I’ve bumped into him a few times. He was at Chelsea when we played a pre-season game when I was at Reading. And we got in touch through that.
“He gave me a great piece of inform-ation one night. I was at the LMA [League Managers Association] awards and we were sharing a taxi together along with Paul Clement. It was a Wednesday night and I was with Swansea and we had the play-off final against Reading on the Monday. We were in the taxi and Carlo turned to me and said, ‘You will win on Monday’. And I said, ‘What makes you think that?’ and his reply was, ‘it’s the footballing gods’.
“I asked what he meant and he said, ‘You’re playing the team that sacked you. So, for sure, you will win. I had the same when I was with AC Milan against Juventus. We were playing them after they had sacked me and I was told we would win because of the footballing gods. And we won’.
“So that was Carlo’s story. And after we got out of the taxi I thought, ‘please be right!’ Hopefully when we meet in the Champions League this time the footballing gods will be telling him it’s Celtic all the way!”
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