The Rock and the Hard Place: Celtic’s European Woes

The first leg of Celtic’s Europa League tie against Valencia has re-sparked the debate of Brendan Rodgers approach and philosophy in European competition.

The basic argument is as follows; should Rodgers be more pragmatic and in essence set his team up to sit back, absorb pressure and stay in a match in the hopes of a set piece opportunity or counter-attack to win the game?

In other words, set his team up in a manner diametrically opposed to everything he has tried to instil in his squad since his arrival.

There are a number of issues with this line of thought, however, a more pragmatic approach is the only way Celtic will ever see any success against big European opposition. So what is Rodgers and indeed any subsequent manager of the club to do?

You can break the argument down to two important points; quality of players and uniqueness of style. The question of quality players is out of Celtic’s hands to a certain extent due to inflated market and vitally bloated wages.

Of course, an excellent scouting network and a good manager can compensate for the market effect but even then we would probably find ourselves at last 32 Europa League level and not much better.

So what about the question of uniqueness of style? One of the most compelling things about European football is the meeting of teams from different national leagues, most of which bring with them some characteristic style or mentality that is instilled into them from their domestic game.

The main point is all of the teams that find any success in Europe are those who have the best players in the world or have a style that can overcome a quality deficit  But, in every case, the unique style is fine-tuned in the context of domestic football.

So Celtic are truly hamstrung. We exist in a league that allows us to play a style of football that is not conducive to playing against superior opposition.

Further, the style that would perhaps allow more success in Europe would be unacceptable in every way when coming up against domestic teams.

I am sure there is a solution to this seemingly cyclic argument but it seems that something big has to change in order for Celtic to progress in a European context.