CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers tonight admitted that he had foreseen difficulties arising in the Champions League play-off games following his side’s disappointing 0-0 draw with Kairat Almaty at Parkhead.
The Scottish champions’ furious fans turned on their board – chairman Peter Lawwell and chief executive Michael Nicholson in particular – during the first leg match against the Kazakhstan team.
They chanted “sack the board”, “Lawwell, Lawwell, get to f***” and “Michael, Michael, get to f***” as their team struggled against opponents they were expected to overcome comfortably.
The Glasgow club’s supporters are unhappy that more players haven’t been signed in the summer transfer window to replace striker Kyogo Furuhashi, who left back in January, and winger Nicolas Kuhn, who departed last month.
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Rodgers - who has added, among others, Kieran Tierney, Benjamin Nygren, Shin Yamada and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey to his squad in recent weeks - has been eager to increase his options in the forward areas and confessed that he was not surprised his charges had toiled against Kairat.
Asked if he had envisaged Celtic struggling without further reinforcements, he said, “I think it was pretty clear. You didn’t need to look into the future too far. You know these games are tough games and you want to have your best players in. And have players in as quick as you can to tackle these sorts of situations.
“But listen, it is what it is. And I just have to accept where it’s at. This is it and we’ll now get ready for Saturday and then the long haul on Sunday. Then we’ll try and get through on Tuesday."
Asked for his response to the abuse which was aimed in the direction of the Celtic directors, he said, “What I do know is that 'sack the board' usually means 'sack the manager'. It's normally the manager that goes when that starts to be sung.
"I can only really look at the players we have here, and the performance. We've known for a long time what we've needed as a squad, so I don't want to go into that.
“Of course, at the end of the game, we're having to shuffle things about to try and make it work. The players are out of position, but the players' endeavour in the second half was really good. But at this level, it's more than that. So hopefully we can show that.
“I think that we need to improve the squad. There was clarity around that for a long time. So we see that. I think supporters see that. We certainly do in football. We need to improve.
“And then from that, this is a performance club. This is a club that's to perform. And that starts on the field. And you do that with getting the very best players you possibly can to allow you to perform.
“So it's getting performance on the pitch. The style and the type of football excites supporters. That's what this club is used to. So we know that. Hopefully between now and the end of the window, we can get that. And then that will support us going through the rest of the season.”
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Asked if he was frustrated that he hadn’t been able to bring in any more players by this late stage of the transfer window, Rodgers said, “I can't answer that. Because it's not my decision in the end.
“I can prepare the team. The staff, the players that are here, have been fantastic over pre-season. We're all clear on what we need to improve. And for whatever reason, we haven't been able to do that. So now we're in this position.
“We have to accept it and not dwell on it. And try and come through it for Saturday and for Tuesday. We have to do it. But I do believe that we'll be better than what we were in the first half.
“The second half we dominated and arrived into a lot of good areas. But just that final ball, a little bit of finesse and that little extra bit of quality that's needed as you come through the levels, they're likely to break teams down. So that's something we'll look at and analyse.”
