Earlier today I shared a story about how Motherwell boss, Stuart Kettlewell, shared a story about how Brendan Rodgers took him into his office for a 45 minute chat when he was the manager of Ross County back in 2018.
Kettlewell was blown away with the kindness the Celtic boss showed him and called it a true ‘touch of class’ by Rodgers. You can read the story on TBR Celtic.
However, within that chat, Kettlewell has also revealed how he picked Rodgers’ brain about his tactics for the Champions League and what he said then may offer an insight into how the Celtic manager may set up against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
Kettlewell said [BBC Sportsound], “One of the things he touched on, was this almost a mindset of how he can set his team up domestically and how he associates that with how he’s going to play in the Champions League.
“And I think we seen it again in the last game in Europe, where at times they dominate, they’re on the front foot.
“But it’s in that turnover, he calls it transition now, but for me, it’s a turnover of the ball and it’s again how they are set up behind the ball and he started to really go into specifics.
“At the time they had Kieran Tierney as a fullback who would attack, but then he would think about how he joins on about becoming a back three.
“And I was really intrigued by it and I asked him about it when we played against them just in the manager’s office after it.”
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So it seems that by looking at how Rodgers plays domestically, we can see how he may set up against the La Liga side next week.
Will Rodgers stick with the 4-3-3 that has served him so well domestically? To be fair, it’s also done him well in Europe but for some bad luck with Carter-Vickers’ slip against Lazio and the sending off of Gustaf Lagerbielke against Feyenoord, Celtic could have picked up something against the continental sides.
Atletico will provide a different challenge altogether next week. Chasing down Real Madrid, the Spanish side have already shown their class after tearing the Galactico’s apart at the beginnig of the season.
Will Rodgers go all out attack against Atletico as he does against opposition in the SPFL? It’s highly unlikely as the Celtic manager has shown more restraint against the likes of Lazio and Feyenoord.
However he sets up, Rodgers will know that anything less than three points will effectively end his European campaign before October has even finished.
In other news, What Joe Hart said about Celtic’s ticket allocation at Hearts last season is just as pertinent today as it was then