Celtic claimed a fantastic 3-0 win away at Anderlecht to move themselves off the bottom of their Champions League group.
Brendan Rodgers
Speaking after BT Sport’s live coverage of Celtic’s Champions League victory over Anderlecht (broadcast on 27th September 2017 from 19:00), Brendan Rodgers has suggested that he feels that Celtic need to work on being more patient when they have possession of the ball, insisting that they almost look embarrassed to keep it for long periods.
The Hoops took a massive step towards extending their European journey beyond the turn of the year as they claimed an emphatic 3-0 win over in Belgium to put themselves third in the group going into their back-to-back games with Bayern Munich.
It was certainly not the perfect performance from the Scottish Premiership side however, as they started slowly and frequently gave the ball away during the early stages.
And Rodgers suggested that his key post-match message to his players centred around the need to keep the ball and to avoid rushing trying to make things happen.
“The first goal showed great patience. I still think we’re, at times, a little bit embarrassed to have the ball for longer periods. I think that’s something that I said to the players afterwards that we need to continue to work on because at this level, you have to be that little bit more patient also. But you can see that we’re growing at the level.”
It would be easy to get carried away following the win as given the other sides in the group, it is fair to say that Celtic have put themselves in a great position.
With Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich joining the Hoops and Anderlecht in the group, the latter two sides will know how important the two games against each other will probably be for securing third spot. But Rodgers’ slight criticism of his side just hints that he would reject the idea that finishing third in the group will definitely be Celtic’s ceiling.
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