'Manufacture your own stress'

Celtic were woeful as they crashed out of the Champions League.

Kairat Almaty – ranked 311th in the UEFA club coefficient leaderboard – sent the Hoops into the Europa League league phase after a penalty shootout victory in Kazakhstan.

After drawing 0-0 in the first leg, Celtic yet again could not break down Kairat, this time after 120 minutes of painful football.

Kairat were poor, but they were organised and shut a lousy Celtic out. The Bhoys then missed three penalties in the shootout to tumble out of the Champions League and wave goodbye to a guaranteed £40m.

So what did Brendan Rodgers have to say at his post-match press conference?

Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

Rodgers addresses Celtic’s defeat to Kairat Almaty

Rodgers was quick to get his media duties out of the way after watching a horrendous game of football that saw Celtic lose in embarrassing fashion.

Fans are livid because the Bhoys failed to sign key replacements for the likes of Kyogo, Jota and Nicolas Kuhn for this play-off tie.

So asked if the defeat was self-inflicted because the club failed to replace important stars in time for the tie, Rodgers sighed before saying: “Look, it’s very frustrating.

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“We all know where we want to get to. Last year, as I say, the strides I thought we took, we really had to build on that.

“The last thing you want to do in football is manufacture your own stress, that’s what you don’t want to be doing. But I think all we can do now is, we have to look at where we’re at as a football club and decide what way we want to go.

“But at this moment in time, we can still have a very good season. You know, some will say we deserve to be in the Europa League this year.

“But for me, we go away with this group of players, see what the remaining days in the window bring, and then we’ve got a really big game at the weekend.”

Rodgers was then asked how dropping into the Europa League could impact transfers over the next few days until the deadline.

He simply replied: “I haven’t a clue. I really don’t know, no.”

Rodgers has to take responsibility for Kairat horror show

It’s completely understandable that Celtic fans direct most of their anger at the club’s board, because they are the people who get transfers over the line.

But Rodgers still has a squad at his disposal who should be beating Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan over two legs of football.

Celtic drew 0-0 after 120 minutes of dreary football in the second leg, but the damage was ultimately done in the first leg at Parkhead.

To draw 0-0 at home to Kairat was the killer and Rodgers has to own up and admit he’s completely underperformed as a manager.

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