Brendan Rodgers is unfortunate common Celtic denominator as nagging suspicion must be playing on his mind - Hugh Keevins

Our man has his say on THAT Champions League result in Germany as he analyses the Irishman

I asked the question here last week: “Who can Brendan trust?” And the answer, so far as Celtic’s European humiliation in Germany was concerned, was no-one at all. Including the manager himself.

It was Brendan Rodgers who said Celtic, in his estimation, had never been “more ready” for the Champions League. That has turned out to be a grotesque misrepresentation of the facts. Strength in depth at European level has been exposed as being a total falsehood. Dortmund wasn’t about the Yellow Wall. It was more about the glass ceiling.

The idea that playing the runners-up in last season’s Champions League final was some sort of free hit for Rodgers’ team was an exercise in self-delusion on the part of supporters who couldn’t see what was staring them in the face. It was wishful thinking at the expense of heeding factual evidence.

I also said last weekend that Celtic needed to avoid “drowning in Deutschland”. They went down with all hands on deck in the Signal Iduna Park in a 7-1 hiding that the manager admits was a tough watch. It was the third time in Celtic’s history that the club had conceded seven goals in a Champions League tie.

The common denominator is Rodgers has had the misfortune to be the manager of the team on each of those occasions. Self-analysis is a lonely business. You only have your own thoughts for company. What must be preying on Rodgers' mind is the nagging suspicion he’ll never truly reach the next level in Europe with Celtic.

That was his primary aim when he returned to the club for a second time. But, in spite of being backed by his employers to the extent that they broke their own transfer record twice in quick succession to sign Adam Idah and Arne Engels, that ambition is as far away as it has ever been.

And Celtic’s next European opponents, Atalanta, are last May’s winners of the Europa League, having beaten the winners of the Bundesliga, Bayer Leverkusen, in Dublin to gain that distinction. Celtic have, by a country mile, the best squad in Scotland for domestic football.

The defeat of St Johnstone by six clear goals last weekend was, to my way of thinking, the most complete performance given by any team in the 12-year history of the Premiership. It was a masterclass in coordination, imagination and penetration. But high altitude abroad leads to breathing difficulties and Celtic suffered the equivalent of asphyxiation in Dortmund.

What now has to be tested at localised level is the psychological damage done by beatings of such a devastating nature in Europe. Where would you least like to be today in the immediate aftermath of being mauled in Dortmund? Probably in the back of beyond at a stadium devoid of atmosphere with an early start on the road to for a mid-day kick-off time against play Ross County.

Reputations that were diminished in Dortmund – and no-one avoided that fate – have to be refurbished in the Highlands. For Rodgers not to win the league title this season would be an embarrassment beyond measure given the financial advantages that have enabled him to construct a multi-million pound team yet to lose a goal, far less a point, in the Premiership so far.

Bottom lips that were trembling in Germany have to undergo facial reconstruction and become the stiff upper lip variety to negotiate whet the former interim manager at Aberdeen, Neil Warnock, described as the “muck and nettles” of Scottish football.

What Rodgers does about Celtic’s re-entry to the European stage is a matter between him and his better judgement.

Brendan says there will be no camping in and no radical change to his philosophy. He will seek to compete and refuse to simply participate in a non-combative manner. And yet he admits his players were “spooked” by the nature of the rapid-fire going over they were given last Tuesday night.

Precisely why that should have been the case when the same players derive maximum benefit from having 60,000 supporters at all of their home games is a mystery Rodgers needs to solve. And quickly. The worry would be that a sub-conscious inferiority complex becomes a condition that stunts Celtic’s growth the minute they leave the country to face foreign opposition.

The mind games begin in Dingwall. Post-traumatic stress disorder will be a possibility until Rodgers’ players prove they are made of stronger stuff in the most basic of surroundings. A nervous disposition in a domestic match against inferior opposition will be proof of Europe having the power to deflate as well as inspire.

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