Brendan Rodgers has been instrumental for Celtic in establishing the principles that have been adhered to admirably during their flying start to the campaign.
The Irishman has the Bhoys on a ten-match domestic winning run, and their competitive nature has also extended to the Champions League, where three points from two league phase matches have been claimed.
Barring Celtic’s heavy defeat to Borussia Dortmund in Europe’s premier competition, there hasn’t been much to complain about in the grand scheme of things.
Regardless, there is always room to analyse the man in charge. Brendan Rodgers’ is as experienced as they come in the footballing world, it is nothing he hasn’t heard before.
Without further ado, 67 Hail Hail take a look at three decisions the Celtic manager may have got right and a trio that have went wrong so far this season.
Brendan Rodgers’ three correct Celtic calls this season
Just before the international break, Celtic left it late to see off Ross County in Dingwall and extended their unbeaten domestic start despite a difficult afternoon in the Highlands.
While suffering a one-goal deficit, Rodgers swapped out Daizen Maeda, Adam Idah, Arne Engels and Reo Hatate for the supporting cast. Paulo Bernardo, Kyogo Furuhashi, Paulo Bernardo and Luke McCowan came off the bench to search for a winner.
Who did he choose to keep on the field? None other than Nicolas Kuhn. Despite not having his most productive 90 minutes in a Celtic shirt before then, the German winger stepped up three minutes from time to deliver the decisive blow at the Global Energy Stadium.
Moving on, Paulo Bernardo’s inclusion against Rangers last month also deserves adulation. With the window closing on Friday, there may have been a temptation from the manager to slot in Bhoys’ £11 million record buy Arne Engels from the start.
As history will tell you, Bernardo went on to have a stormer in the engine room, leading Rodgers to lavish praise on his ‘wonderful’ display against his side’s arch-rivals.
He stated: “He is very honest about the game. He has got quality and he feels he should have scored. He did a wonderful piece of skill in the box and that would have made it 3-0 in the first half and he didn’t quite make it a clean strike. Overall, I thought he was very good.”
Lastly, bringing in big-money signing Engels from the start in Celtic’s 5-1 Champions League victory over Slovan Bratislava also comes to mind.
The temptation may have been there to stick with the tried and tested in Bernardo, but fortune favours the bold.
Engels went on to score a penalty and deliver an all-round masterful midfield performance, showcasing his quality on the big stage as his side claimed a historic three points.
The three decisions Brendan Rodgers could’ve handled better
With stars come wishes, or in other words, matters to improve on or keep in mind for future tasks. Rodgers can’t get everything right; he is human at the end of the day.
On the face of it, Celtic’s approach in their defeat to Dortmund is something that has been spoken about extensively, and for good reason.
Ultimately, trying to adopt a front-foot style against Champions League finalists was never going to end well. There is a happy medium to be found, but on reflection, that wasn’t near it.
Within that game, another reason that hindsight has given us was starting Greg Taylor in Germany. Now, this one doesn’t reflect on the player necessarily or his performance on the night, but is more in touch with what has followed since his inclusion.
Notably, the 26-year-old looked a yard off the pace against Dortmund. Seeing as Taylor has now withdrawn from Scotland’s Nations League camp, that could go some way to explaining why that became evident before he was taken off for Alex Valle at half-time.
It is hard to pick holes too much, to be honest; the general consensus has been far more on the right end of the scale than the wrong one this term. However, Cameron Carter-Vickers playing through a persistent foot injury at times during the season probably hasn’t done anyone a whole load of favours.
Rodgers revealed that the United States international has been taking injections to manage his condition, leading him to miss every Celtic match since the win over Slovan Bratislava.
Although most people would be reticent to say they wouldn’t have took the same risk, there is a long old campaign ahead, so it may be wise to offer respite in similar future scenarios.
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