Oct 23,2024
Brendan Rodgers feels Celtic can be more compact in their latest Champions League encounter but he insisted he would never change his approach.
Celtic had contrasting results in their opening two games with a 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava followed by a 7-1 thrashing by Borussia Dortmund.
Rodgers hopes they can learn lessons from their German trip and be tighter in certain moments at Atalanta tonight, but his commitment to front-foot football remains firm.
"Listen, I started coaching many, many years ago, over 25 years ago, and from the very beginning my coaching has always been aggressive. And until the day I finish it will be aggressive, and that's how it will be," said Rodgers, who will again be without injured defenders Cameron Carter-Vickers and Greg Taylor.
"But I’m also respectful that where you play against teams at a certain level, certain opponents, you have to really look at their strengths.
"But don’t say I don’t do that in every game, because I do, no matter what team we are playing, whether it’s in Scotland or in the Champions League.
"It’s the level at which you can get punished. You have to have the balance in your game, you have to be really strong defensively.
"There’s going to be moments when you can press the game high, there’s going to be moments when you’re lower on the pitch. The key learning for us has to be that when you are in those moments, you cannot go on your own.
"The occasion and the emotion, when you’ve got very, very inexperienced squad players playing at this level, sometimes you can make little decisions to jump out of your slot when you’re defending, when really you should stay, because at this level you’ll get picked off. So that’s the key for us.
"But we always have to carry that threat. We have to attack with that intention, to play through that pressure, and know that when you can do that against Atalanta, there’s space for you. But it’s always about striking the balance."
Atalanta head coach Gian Piero Gasperini earlier outlined his own team’s journey in Europe on a similar commitment to attacking football. They suffered a 5-0 home defeat by Liverpool four years ago and beat the Reds 3-0 at Anfield last season on their way to Europa League glory.
Rodgers said: "If you look at this club here in Atalanta, it’s a great example. Obviously there are different resources that are way above us.
"But if you look at the actual principle of it, they came through and arrived into this level, and I’m sure the manager will tell you that some really harsh learning experiences, especially against the top Premier League teams, was really challenging. The scorelines were difficult for them.
"But then they come away and they learn from that, I’m pretty sure, and stick with the philosophy, but still look at certain areas where they can improve. And of course then you become better with that.
"So if it’s a pragmatic coach, it’s a different coach. I’m a different person. And that’s not to say that we go into the game and just be all out attack, all out front foot. That’s not how it is. But if a coach’s DNA is to sit back, then that’s not me. And it won’t be. It won’t be. It’s as simple as that.
We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
"My idea is to have an attacking philosophy, which is about defending well, and defending when you haven’t got the ball, and being really aggressive and really strong in closing spaces. And then when you have the ball, look to create opportunities.
"But that’s not to say I don’t respect the different levels in the game, because I absolutely do. But I’ll always be mindful of having a balance in both attack and defence."
Rodgers added: "This is the long game here in Europe in terms of what we’re trying to achieve, not just this season but going forward.
"One of the big reasons to come back was to show that we can make that progress. That isn’t something that happens in one game or two games.
"But we all do not want to have that feeling that we experienced after (Dortmund) because it’s an emotionally, gutting feeling after a result like that. But this is a team that’s spirit and togetherness is so strong."
Rodgers revealed Atalanta's Europa League hero Ademola Lookman wanted to join him at Celtic Park during his first spell in charge.
The winger agreed personal terms on a move from Charlton but Everton outbid the Hoops in a reported €13.2million deal in January 2017.
Rodgers was reunited with Lookman in a loan season from RB Leipzig in 2021-22 when he was Leicester manager but again his club could not afford a permanent transfer.
He instead tipped off former Celtic chief scout Lee Congerton, who was then at Atalanta, and the English-born Nigeria international will face Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday with his profile raised by his hat-trick heroics in last season’s Europa League final.
Rodgers said: "Ademola was one that we tracked back in my first time at Celtic. I met him in a hotel in London and we were looking to convince him to come. Sadly, we just couldn’t get to the levels that Charlton wanted for him, but the club had done everything they possibly could at that time.
"He wanted to join a big club and feel those pressures and everything of why a player would want to come to Celtic.
"Charlton clearly were wanting to get as much as they possibly could for him. We spoke to him from the personal perspective. It was a move that suited him and suited his representatives and he was very clear on that.
"But obviously it was the financial sum at the end, he went to Everton and it just drifted away from us."
Rodgers added: "From that moment, we stayed in contact really. And then when I was at Leicester, we wanted to bring in another winger and we enquired about his availability when he was at Red Bull.
"He came in and he was absolutely brilliant for me, scored some outstanding goals. I remember the goal he scored against Liverpool when we won 1-0, it was a great individual goal.
"We wanted to sign him at Leicester but sadly we couldn’t sign any players that summer.
"Lee Congerton, I had worked with before, and once I told him we weren’t going to be able to sign him, Lee then took him here to Atalanta and he’s now a club legend."
