Celtic suffer near 60-year low in Bodo/Glimt - Ange Postecoglou's big decision, was Conference League relevant

In the rush of some among the Celtic support to proclaim Ange Postecoglou’s team as a dramatic upgrade on recent times, the slide represented by the humbling Conference League exit to Bodo/Glimt tells a different story.

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou left some of his big hitters on the bench.

The upshot of their miserable 2-0 loss in the Norwegian return leg of their last 16 play-off is not just that they have tumbled them out of a third straight European competition at the earliest juncture possible. The 5-1 aggregate defeat represents their heaviest losing margin in almost 60 years competing in continental competition when pitted against a side from outside of Europe’s big five leagues. Indeed, it is one of only a handful of knock-out ties where they have been beaten both home and away. All a world away from them only two seasons ago topping a European group for the first time – courtesy of Europa League exploits wherein they didn’t lose in four games against top five league teams – under the now derided Neil Lennon.

Postecoglou’s decision to start without a clutch of key performers in Bodo resulted in Callum McGregor, Liel Abada, Jota, Josip Juranovic, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate and Greg Taylor all being initially placed on the bench. Yet, that wasn’t the reason his team came up short in the Arctic Circle. It merely betrayed two other considerations. The first, that he knew the jig was up for his team in continental competition following the 3-1 first leg reverse in Glasgow … when he fielded all his go-to men. And, secondly, that the Conference League is largely an irrelevance for Celtic when set against the bid to win the cinch Premiership. In that respect, it made sense to give so many of those who will start for the crucial meeting with Hibs at Easter Road a midweek breather.

Deep down, and though he would never admit so publicly, the deftness and incisiveness exhibited by Bodo/Glimt in outclassing Celtic on their own patch would have had Postecoglou recognising there was no prospect of them staging a comeback on the plastic of the Aspmyra Stadion. The contest appeared an entirely synthetic one from the earliest stages, even before Ola Solbakken made it 1-0 nine minutes in. The home side looked a level above Celtic, as they did across the majority of the 180 minutes of the tie, in playing with a sharpness and intent that contrasted with the sluggish slipshod nature of their visitors. They capitalised on their command with Elias Hagen allowed to drive down the middle of the pitch, before slipping to Solbakken. He was then able to shift in from the left without being fully engaged by Liam Scales, before steering a precise low effort into the far corner.

As Celtic could not get a foothold, only two superb saves from Joe Hart prevented them appearing on course to suffer the 6-1 mauling that befell Roma at the same ground this season. They improved once McGregor and Abada were introduced at the interval for the lifeless Matt O’Riley and Liel Abada, and did threaten on occasion with Daizen Maeda blazing over when through on goal after 68 minutes. Within a minute, the scoreline was more befitting of the overall balance of play and again the swiftness and lethalness of Bodo/Glimt was to the fore in a move that produced a cut-back that Hugo Vetlesen met sweetly, sending a side-footed first time effort beyond the helpless Hart.

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