Brendan Rodgers has hit back at the critics who slammed him and Celtic after last week’s 2-0 defeat from Valencia in the Europa League.
After seven successive domestic wins without losing a goal it all fell a bit flat when the Spanish side scored their second goal to effectively kill off the tie.
While no one was getting carried away by a couple of wins over St Johnstone it was still a disappointment to see the hoops fall well short of the eighth best team in Spain.
Chris Sutton was highly critical of Celtic’s display, claiming that they lacked a genuine centre forward, with Rodgers clearly aware of the claims being made against him.
“I’ve been a manager for over 10 years now,” he explained to the Daily Record. “If someone is on the TV commentating who was once a target man, what style do you think he’ll want to see a team play? Likewise, If I had a little mobile striker commentating, what style do you think he’d prefer?
“The perception has never bothered me. The reality of it is we’re going into European football while in a different level and market. What we have to do is find a way to win. So is it defend on the edge of our 18-yard box for 90 minutes and suffer? Maybe get a point or just lose a game 3-0 instead of 6-0? That’s not me.
“But that’s not to say I go out, just open the whole pitch up and let people run through us. You have to bear in mind some of the heavier defeats we have taken in Europe have been against teams who have done it to other teams.
“Yes Barcelona beat us heavily but they also did it to PSG. We’ve also had games where we just haven’t played well or we have made mistakes, like Valencia last week. What got lost was that we started the game well but the end point is the result. I get that.
“We make mistakes and it’s about trying to bridge that gap between the level we play at domestically to then coming in against top European teams.
“We’ve shown that when we are concentrated and play to our level, we can get a result. Leipzig at home and Anderlecht away are examples. But you have to play consistently to that.
“As a club the players will gain more by having the belief and confidence to play. Fundamentally it’s the same as how we play domestically, although of course there is more dominance there.
“It’s about how we defend, that’s the starting point. From there you play football. At this level it’s a different level of player a different physicality and technical ability. At times it has been tough for us, especially if we’ve made mistakes.
“Valencia are a team who play on your mistakes. They’re not really pressing you aggressively or coming after you. They sit in a block, that’s the philosophy. They are waiting on your mistakes, so the key is don’t make so many of them and concentrate.”
Sutton will be part of BT Sport’s coverage of tonight’s return leg from Valencia as Celtic look to improve on their first leg showing.
Celtic’s hopes have been written off by almost everyone but the longer that the game remains goal-less they can’t be discounted entirely, if Celtic open the scoring the tie suddenly becomes interesting.