BRENDAN RODGERS has won 21 of his 60 European encounters as Celtic manager.
There have been 25 defeats and 14 draws in that sequence.
Rodgers also made unheralded – and unwanted – history in Kazakhstan on Tuesday night.
The Irishman watched his side eliminated from the Champions League twice in the same year; 188 days separating the February expulsion in Munich and the embarrassment in Almaty.
Doesn’t make for impressive reading, does it?
There’s been a lot of noise about how the standard in the squad has dropped since the unfortunate 3-2 aggregate loss to Bayern Munich following an inspiring display in the Allianz Arena.
Really? Rodgers utilised 13 players that evening when Harry Kane and Co got lucky with a last-gasp equaliser as extra-time loomed. Would it surprise you to learn that the team boss had EIGHT of that number available for selection against Kairat?
CAN’T BEAR TO LOOK…Brendan Rodgers in Kazakhstan.
And it would have been eleven if Alistair Johnston, Auston Trusty and Filipe Jota had been fit. You can never legislate for injuries. Taking part that evening in Bavaria were Kasper Schmeichel, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Arne Engels, Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, Yang Hyun-jun, Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah.
Johnston, Trusty and Jota all started the game.
Two players have departed Glasgow since then – Jeffrey Schlupp, who had been on loan from Crystal Palace, and Nicolas Kuhn, who was sold to Como for £17.2million last month.
I think we can all agree that Kieran Tierney is an upgrade on Schlupp, who is now at Norwich City.
Can it possibly be that Celtic’s overall quality has plummeted to such humiliating levels because of the omission of one man? If so, the Serie A club have got the bargain of the century in Nicolas Kuhn.
Doesn’t add up, does it? We had the players, but didn’t get the job done. It’s everyone’s responsibility the team’s participation among the game’s elite lasted a mere three and half hours.
And which bright spark thought it would be a good idea to allow Idah to take the first penalty-kick in the shoot-out the other night?
THE LAST POST…Adam Idah strikes the woodwork against St Mirren.
We’re talking about a striker who has failed to score a goal since the start of the season, whose form has been so lamentable that he was hauled off at the interval in the first leg against Kairat and had to wait until the 70th minute to come on in the return.
You and I were witnessing a performer completely drained of confidence, a player who couldn’t score from four yards in the opening Premiership game of the crusade when he clattered one off the woodwork with the St Mirren keeper already resigned to picking the ball out of his net.
And, yet, up ran the Republic of Ireland international to accept responsibility of the kick that could lead to a £40million pay day for the club. Fair play to Idah for accepting the burden.
Obviously, the team with the opening spot-kick have the opportunity of scoring first and putting immense psychological pressure on the opponents. At that stage, they can only play catch-up.
RIGHT? WRONG! Adam Idah misses.
RIGHT? WRONG! Luke McCowan misses.
RIGHT? WRONG! Daizen Maeda misses.
The situation takes a somersault if the first kick is squandered, as was the case with Idah. Celtic were thrown a lifeline when the first taker for the opponents tried to be too clever and clipped one onto Schmeichel’s crossbar.
But oblivion beckons when your second kick is also missed, with Luke McCowan the culprit on this occasion. And any hopes of an exciting run in European football’s most prestigious tournament were obliterated when Maeda also failed from 12 yards.
Did you notice anything about those penalties? All three were hit to the keeper’s right.
Although the percentage varies worldwide, roughly 85 to 90 percent of the population are right-handed. It’s reasonable to assume the netminder would have been more comfortable on his right.
Look back to Hampden and the Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen. McGregor and Johnston missed their penalty-kicks, both shots hit towards Dimitar Mitov’s right.
If you strike ball with unerring accuracy, no keeper has a chance of saving the effort. Unfortunately, all five Celtic attempts in the two shoot-outs were firmly in the diabolical category. Any self-respecting custodian would expect to make a save when the ball is belted so close to him with the efforts lacking precision.
Mistakes were made and Celtic paid the ultimate penalty (no pun intended).
I said in this column on the day of the game that I thought Celtic would win. I got that wrong, but I was in good company; the bookies agreed with me.
I did say, though, that I hoped the players had spent some time practising penalty-kicks. I think my pleas fell on deaf ears.
I told the fans there was no requirement to look out the worry beads because we had an elite manager in Brendan Rodgers.
I’ve been a supporter of the Irishman from day one, but his record at this level does not stand up to scrutiny.
Now an adventure in the Europa League is about to begin.
Brendan could go a long way to enhancing his reputation by emulating a bloke called Ange Postecoglou and actually winning the trophy.
ALEX GORDON
