Ange Postecoglou has rightfully earned a lot of plaudits for the job that he has done as Celtic manager since arriving last summer. But if there is one blot on his report card, it is the Hoops’ record in Europe under his management. They failed to qualify for the Champions League, and got knocked out of both the Europa League and Europa Conference League early last season.
This time around, while the performances have been positive in the Champions League, the fact of the matter is that Celtic have only one point from their first three games and sit at the bottom of their group.
In 11 games in European main stage competition as Celtic manager, Postecoglou’s side have won only 3, drawn 1 and lost 7. That is an area where they certainly need to improve.
Postecoglou has always made it a point for his side to play attacking football but perhaps in the second half against RB Leipzig away in Germany, that is not exactly what Celtic produced. The manager has promised his players though that if things go wrong, he will take the responsibility for it. As reported by the Daily Record, he said:
"“It’s not easy. Again, it’s human nature, particularly with the group of players we have. They’re still experiencing something new.“It’s by trying to show them that they have protection if things go wrong. I’ll take the responsibility for it. Don’t fear.“It’s only human nature that, playing away from home in a Champions League game and you’ve equalised, you feel like you are really in the game. You’ll tighten up a little bit and think, ‘Jeez, a point in Leipzig would be brilliant! We don’t want to give away this point Instead of passing forward, maybe I’ll just hit the safe pass. Instead of making a run forward, maybe I’ll just sit here in case we lose the ball.’“So, that’s all part of the process. It’s just human nature. It’s about trying to show the players and get them to understand that’s not the way we’ve set up to play, it’s not going to help us in our endeavour to be successful. And if it does go wrong in doing what I want them to do then I’ll take responsibility.”"
Celtic need a win against RB Leipzig to keep their hopes alive
There have been mixed feelings amongst the fans when it comes to playing full out attacking football in Europe.
On one hand, we have seen what Celtic can do at their best, as they took the game to Real Madrid in the first half at Parkhead and could have easily gone a goal or two up against the European champions, if they had taken their chances.
On the other hand, it is also clear that the results have not been great and perhaps at times, a more pessimistic approach might serve them well when it comes to grinding out results.
One thing there is no debate about is that Celtic need a win vs RB Leipzig if they are to keep their hopes of qualifying for the last 16 alive.