Celtic fans are worried, very worried by results and the state of mind of Brendan Rodgers.
The charismatic leader of two years ago taking the club out of the wilderness into the Champions League group has been replaced by a hesitant individual more like the man of three years ago in the final days of his Liverpool reign.
Football supporters have become experts in body language with little positive coming from the Celtic manager in recent months. It may just be the result of closer observation but in the dug out Rodgers seems less enthusiastic than the guy that as recently as March produced a tactical masterpiece to steer 10 men to victory at Ibrox.
In the absence of any solid evidence the state of relationships inside Celtic Park is wide open to interpretation.
????? Brendan Rodgers’ post-match reaction following #FCSCEL. #UEL pic.twitter.com/dw5DjXUalw
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) October 4, 2018
Points of encouragement? Am sorry but your dreaming brendan, the team was set up not to get beat, we sat far too deep in the first half and couldn’t string 4 passes together, strikers were miles apart and we couldn’t get over the halfway line, painful
— chivs (@CHIVS105) October 4, 2018
Couldn’t string 2 passes together and treated the ball like a hot potato. Great start but then as usual the master’s of their own downfall away in Europe. Bossed in every area and didn’t turn up in the 2nd half. Dissapointing!!!
— Paul McConnell (@PaultheHelms) October 4, 2018
Just looks like a guy going through the motions, giving buzzwords and textbook responses to questions, bangs on about quality but has bought a fair amount of players who are not even SPL standard, never mind European standard.
— S32 (@sc32ie) October 4, 2018
Bored. Bored. Bored.
Regressing domestically.
Poor, getting poorer in Europe.
Sick of being embarrassed.
New manager in May, please.
— Blair W (@jukeboxjunkie88) October 5, 2018
We cannot pass the ball with confidence in Europe ever…like rabbits in the headlights & panic sets in…saying that 2 goals were avoidable & Gordon should’ve dived at players feet on one of em… should’ve switched it at half time wi midfielder replacing Griff
— Christopher Watters (@watters_nrgsuk) October 4, 2018
The transfer market failings from the summer, and January are making an impact on the pitch with no first team arrivals since Olivier Ntcham and Odsonne Edouard signed on last summer.
With Stuart Armstrong, Patrick Roberts and Moussa Dembele moving in the other direction the squad has been weakened at just the moment supporters expected the club to be strengthening and kicking on.
A year ago a 3-0 win away to Anderlecht was looked on as a turning point- unfortunately it now looks like the high water mark for that squad of players.
Managers can only do so much, Rodgers has brought out the very best in Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and James Forrest, he has revived the flagging careers of Mikael Lustig, Scott Brown and Tom Rogic.
There isn’t much more to be achieved from the players he inherited, those that he has signed have been more miss than hit.
A year ago Celtic were dominant domestically and progressing in Europe with honourable results against Borussia Monchengladbach, Manchester City and Anderlecht to take heart from.
Already this season we’ve lost at Hearts and Kilmarnock and drawn at St Mirren. None of those results have been surprising.
Following Sunday’s trip to St Johnstone there is the pleasant distraction of an international break, after that things will be stepped up.
Matches against Hibs and Hearts will be demanding on current form, a double header with RB Leipzig doesn’t look promising from this distance.
Confidence and momentum are massive in football, unfortunately for Celtic both are in short supply with the next public examination coming on Sunday at St Johnstone.
