Celtic FC news: “We won’t change our game plan despite Champions League beatings,’ says Brendan Rodgers :-: talkSPORT
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers will not resort to pragmatism despite suffering a 3-0 defeat to German giants Bayern Munich in their Champions League clash in the Allianz Arena.
The Northern Irishman had promised to play on the front foot in the Group B encounter and in an open game, skipper Thomas Muller opened the scoring in the 17th minute before right-back Joshua Kimmich headed in a second in the 29th minute.
Mats Hummels headed in a third six minutes after the break and although the Scottish champions threatened more in the second-half it was a comfortable win for the star-studded home side.
Asked if he could perhaps have been more pragmatic in his approach, Rodgers, whose side lost 5-0 at home to French side Paris Saint-Germain in their opening fixture before beting Anderlecht 3-0 away, said: "We decide how we play. There is nothing about being pragmatic for the goals we conceded.
"We didn't defend our box well enough when the ball came in. We could do better with those.
"But listen, I would rather lose a game playing the way we want to play and how we want to work as opposed to sat in and defending for 90 minutes and still lose, if that is the case.
"Myself and my staff and the players had a plan going into the game and there were lots of positives for us in the game and something to look forward to for the second game against them at Celtic Park."
"It is about constructing a mind-set and a way of working. It is not going to happen overnight.
"There are lots of elements. We come away to some of these big arenas and we can show our qualities and level of football and that won't change and we will look to do that as opposed to sitting in and suffering in the game.
"You have to respect the level of opponent but the players are getting better."
