Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers sends back a brutal message concerning Celtic critics over ‘pragmatism’ complaints after Atalanta draw match

Some people said that Brendan Rodgers was maybe too excited about the match against Borussia Dortmund.

That night, on the second day of the Champions League, Celtic fell apart, and they were punished by a crushing 7-1 loss in Germany.

The boss wouldn’t change his strategy, so he told his players to go up against the big teams in the Bundesliga and give it their all while staying defensively strong.

But things didn’t quite go as planned, and Rodgers admitted and took responsibility for that. He seemed to learn an important lesson, though.

Even though the Hoops had a great defensive game last night, Rodgers was thrilled to keep a clean sheet against one of Italy’s top goal scorers.

The Black and Blues did have some chances, but people like Kasper Schmeichel, Auston Trusty, and Liam Scales made it very hard for them.

Celtic up front, on the other hand, didn’t have many chances, but it was just one of those nights.

Atalanta and Celtic played to a 0-0 draw in the Champions League. When asked to think about what had changed since the Dortmund humiliation, Rodgers thought about how fans and experts had told them to be a little more defensive.

The man from Northern Ireland even used it to show that he had done something.

“It makes them (the team) feel like they can defend against the best teams,” he said.

“I told you that.” I don’t know if that was practical enough for people tonight.

“Every game, we go out with the plan to be structured and defend well. You want to be pushed back, but I think the confidence you get from being able to defend against the best teams helps.”

Rodgers was blamed for not keeping the back door shut against Borussia Dortmund.
“That level of focus will give them a huge boost.”

The first half was saved by goalkeeper Schmeichel, who made two huge stops to keep Mario Pašalić out. Pašalić also hit the post with a header.

Arne Engels and Kyogo only had half-chances to really test Marco Carnesecchi as a goalkeeper.