Former Celtic striker Darren Jackson described their 7-1 thrashing by Borussia Dortmund as “embarrassing” and urged Brendan Rodgers to change his philosophy when playing in the Champions League.
Celtic arrived at Signal Iduna Park in confident mood having won every game this season, including a 5-1 defeat of Slovan Bratislava in their European opener and a 6-0 beating of St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership at the weekend.
However, they were ruthlessly exposed by the Bundesliga side for whom Karim Adeyemi scored a first-half hat-trick and Serhou Guirassy netted twice.
Rodgers has always favoured an open, attacking approach but Jackson said that displayed the fragility of his team.
He told Good Morning Scotland: “It was embarrassing. I’ve been there, I’ve lost seven and that’s not having a real go at the manager or the players, they’ll know themselves – they’ll be embarrassed.
“Everyone has a philosophy and a structure in the way they play, and they’ve been playing that well, they had the confidence to go and play the Brendan way.
“That’s where they have to say, ‘can we play like this?’, and I don’t think they can because what they do in the Scottish Premiership to teams, was done to them last night. It was a role reversal from the Bratislava game where Celtic pressed them and they just gave the ball back.”
“We’ll always adapt, but sometimes quality shines through.”
Brendan Rodgers reflects on Celtic’s challenges in Europe against top-tier opponents 🗣️
🎙️ @DannyJamieson pic.twitter.com/E9uSCO9Z57
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 1, 2024
Jackson felt it was unfair to place all the blame on Rodgers and said the players have to do more.
He added: “The players have to be better. People will have a go at the manager, but the players have to be better in possession of the ball.
“Dortmund were ruthless, but all the top teams are ruthless.”
Celtic’s next Champions League assignment sees them go on the road again to another free-scoring side in Atalanta in three weeks’ time.
And Rodgers accepts they will need to be better.
He said: “We went in high in confidence. We felt we were in a really good place. We had to start much better than we did, as we gave away really cheap goals. And we got punished for loose bits of play and passes. They were ruthless in their finishing. It was incredible to see.
“It’s very difficult for us to get to that level. It’s a different level, with the greatest respect. We want to be more competitive, that’s what was disappointing from our perspective.
“My job is to go away and inspire the players again. We need to learn from it or we will get punished at this level.”
