BRENDAN RODGERS revealed the call to adjust the defensive wall ahead of Calvin Stengs’ free-kick was made by the players on the pitch as he bemoaned the “costly” nature of the goal.
Celtic lost 2-0 to Feyenoord in their opening Champions League group stage game over in the Netherlands.
It could have been more however, with the Dutch champions having two strikes disallowed for offside and dominating the majority of the second half, particularly after the Hoops were reduced to NINE men.
Gustaf Lagerbielke was the first to head for an early bath when he was penalised for an arm across the face of Igor Paixão inside the box, leading to a second booking and a penalty.
Odin Thiago Holm had only been on the park for ten minutes when the second half sub was shown a straight red for a reckless lunge on Mats Wieffer.
In terms of the line-up of the wall, something ex-Celtic boss Martin O’Neill also noticed, Rodgers explained what happened that led to Kyogo (all 5ft5 of him) being the man on the inside of the wall, where the ball was aimed.
Joe Hart left a gap on his left-hand side that Stengs duly exploited but even at that, the sight of the ball bouncing past the Hoops’ No1 left many an observer thinking the goalkeeper could’ve done better.
Gaffer Rodgers said: “I feel for the players. For the first 60 minutes it was a very even game.
“We were playing a team doing very well and scoring a lot of goals but we more than matched them first half.
“We’re disappointed with the first goal. We made a decision to adjust the wall in-game and it maybe cost us.
“I don’t mind players making decisions in-game, if it works. We were still in the game but in the second half I was really disappointed with the sendings off.”
Rodgers spared no sympathy for the two players who were dismissed in Rotterdam.
He said: “The first one you just have to shepherd it through to the goalkeeper and you don’t need to get into the fight. It’s inexperience.
“Then Odin, who’s a fantastic young player, will learn from that. He’s a very committed player but you can’t go to ground like that at any level and he made it very easy for the referee.
“I told the players we kept fighting in a difficult challenge but if we get to play Feyenoord in the last game with everything to play for we have a fantastic chance.”
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