Brugge lesson for Celtic – Ditch failed punts and projects policy

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The Celtic Star

·28 août 2025

Brugge lesson for Celtic – Ditch failed punts and projects policy

A good friend of mine, who has had a long involvement in the beautiful game, sent me his refections after Celtic’s costly and hugely frustrating Champions League exit against Kairat on Tuesday night…

Celtic players appear dejected after losing in the penalty shootout Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

I thought it’s well worth sharing, but no names given at author’s request. I’ll add my own thoughts afterwards. Here goes…

Vidéos OneFootball

Celtic supporters, Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

Celtic’s Champions League shambles

As you well know, I’m not a follower of the herd. You ought, however, to allow at least some of your regular correspondents to take an alternative view to the aforementioned herd.

Celtic should have beaten Almaty, since they’re no great shakes. Brendan Rodgers, as manager must carry a large proportion of the can, as should the Celtic players.

He always wants to fit the personnel into his way of playing. As a coach for some thirty years without the indulgence of recruiting players, I gradually learned that that is not always possible, and it can be expedient to set up the team in a way which best utilises the players available.

Reo Hatate of Celtic applauds Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

Given that Yang, Idah, McCowan (and now too often), Hatate are not his best players available, he could perhaps have set up a different way.

When you’re fighting a battle, the saying goes, you must first kill the general. This is what our opponents did with Callum McGregor. Why then was Arne Engels or Paulo Bernardo not there beside him?

Short of wingers? Why is Maeda at the centre when patently Shin or Kenny (though as yet untested) would allow Daizen to do what he’s best at on the left?

Kieran Tierney of Celtic Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

Why was Kieran Tierney so quiet? Is Cameron Carter-Vickers fully fit (and settled)? Jota and now Alistair Johnston injured is a big loss to this Celtic squad.

Ach, well. Just sayin’.

Some thoughts of my own on all that….

Brendan Rodgers manager of Celtic Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

Brendan Rodgers has to re-set the narrative at the club and that should hopefully happen before the trip to Ibrox on Sunday. Ahead of that we’ll get the Europa League draw tomorrow and we’ll have to set about doing the best that we can in the circumstances.

The squad has been weakened and the team needs a bigger overhaul than we probably all first thought. Hopefully some players who don’t want to be here, or aren’t really up to the task anyway, will be moved on over the next few days. The transfer window closing will be a relief, that’s for sure.

The Celtic manager has to take responsibility for failing to beat Kairat over two matches without being able to really test their goalkeepers at any stage of the tie. Even in the penalty shoot-out the Celtic efforts were dreadfully poor. And that’s two penalty shoot-out defeats in a row where Kasper Schmeichel hasn’t even come close to saving anything.

Kasper Schmeichel of Celtic Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

Yang tries hard but ultimately it takes more than effort to earn a place at Celtic. Adam Idah is buckling under the pressure, he should not have played any part on Tuesday anyway when Johnny Kenny was there and had scored at the weekend. Daizen’s mind seems elsewhere. I wonder why?

However the biggest issue though was in the middle of the park, allowing Kairat to pick up exactly where they left off at Parkhead. Nygren should have started on the right wing and Engels should have played in the midfield. Hopefully that’s a lesson Brendan heeds for Sunday.

Callum McGregor of Celtic applauds travelling fans after the full time whistle Kairat Almaty v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Play-Off Round, Second Leg, Football, Almaty Central Stadium, Almaty, Kazakhstan – 26 Aug 2025Almaty Almaty Central Stadium Kazakhstan Photo Nikita Bassov/Shutterstock

theRangers have plenty of worries of their own, but essentially they were almost certainly going to end up in the Europa League anyway, so there’s no real financial loss in terms of expected revenues. For Celtic that isn’t the case. They went out to a Champions League ready side, we certainly did not. And even if we win the league this season the task of getting through qualifiers is going to become increasingly problematic given our record and the fact that we’re likely to have to play more than one tie to get there.

If things don’t change behind the scenes we’ll have a different manager but the same outcome this time next year. Who will get the blame then? Shaun Maloney? Perhaps John Kennedy?

This is not a new concern for Celtic and just about every manager we’re had in recent times has had the same problem, so to get to the root cause you have to look upstairs and things in the boardroom have to change.

Club Brugge, who lit up our television screens last night, is the perfect example of how it should be done. Their transfer model is indefinitely better than Celtic’s failed punts and projects policy….

Christos Tzolis of Club Brugge celebrates scoring his team’s sixth goal during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round Second Leg match between Club Brugge and theRangers at Jan Breydelstadion on August 27, 2025 in Bruges, Belgium. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)

Joaquin Seys of Club Brugge celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal with teammates during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round Second Leg match between Club Brugge and theRangers at Jan Breydelstadion on August 27, 2025 in Bruges, Belgium. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)

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