Talk amongst the club in the lead in to Celtic’s Champions League match with Borussia Monchengladbach was about making teams fear coming to Celtic Park.
That talk was proven cheap as “The German Side,” as they dubbed themselves pre-match, took Celtic to the woodshed in a 2-0 win at Paradise.
Much of the result could be pinned on two areas of failure for the Hoops. Mistakes at the back line and a lack of speed or creativity in the middle of the pitch cost Celtic dearly.
The back line was tested for most of the middle of the match, and was of little help most of the match.
Summer sining Kolo Toure was at fault for both goals, leaving many wondering if the 35-year-old summer singing was the right player to have put in to this match.
While Toure’s signing this summer tried to give this squad depth, he has proven to be a second-choice central defender in league play. Perhaps he should’ve been a second-choice pick in this match as well.
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On the first goal, he was out-foxed as a ‘Gladbach striker managed to poke a ball destined for the touch line back in to play. It was smashed in to the back of the net by Lars Stindl with goalkeeper Craig Gordon having little chance at the point-blank shot.
That made it 1-0 in the 57th minute to the visitors and a far cry from the intimidating experience Celtic had talked about ahead of the match.
Gordon was actually a bright spot for Celtic, despite the pair of goals scored against him. He made a pair of massive saves in the first half and was a steady force throughout the match.
It jus so happened that he was also hung out to dry by Toure on the second goal. This time it was the defender getting caught too far up the field, and was speedy Andre Hahn who raced past him in the 77th minute and made it 2-0 as Gordon had no chance again.
Manger Brendan Rodgers attempted to make changes in the second half, and some of them worked. Celtic got stronger in the middle of the pitch with a change to Callum McGregor, who added some needed pace to keep linking with the Celtic attack.
Later on, Rodgers brought on both Leigh Griffiths and Patrick Roberts. The latter gave Gladbach’s defense plenty to think about thanks to his individual skill, yet no good chances came of it thanks to a packed defense by the visitors.
Simply put, Celtic ran possession but couldn’t find a way to put away the precious few chances it really had to make a difference on the scoreboard.
Instead, it was Scott Sinclair squandering a huge chance and Celtic finding Gladbach defenders blocking the net first.
No doubt it was disappointing given the effort against Manchester City in the previous Champions League mach. However, this result was a stark reminder of the process that is still ongoing for Rodgers and his staff at Paradise.
It was part of the reminder that Rodgers had for everyone following the match.
“We are in a process of building something here,” said Rodgers. “It was absolutely brilliant to qualify for this level, and we have given absolutely everything as anyone can see, but sometimes the teams are better than us and that’s no disrespect to our players who know they have given everything.
“This is a good side. You have a World Cup winner in midfield who played and a number of other very good players so you have to hold up your hands, be honest and say we lost to the better team.”