Celtic warned over 'failure' as 53y/o takes aim at tactics and points tally

Celtic must qualify for the Champions League play-offs in order to avoid this season being branded as a failure, according to the club’s ex-defender Alan Stubbs.

The 53-year-old, who spent five years at Celtic Park between 1996 and 2001, believes the defending Premiership champions must finish in positions nine-to-24 in the revamped European competition to ensure progression for the Glasgow outfit.

Celtic started this season’s Champions League campaign with a 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava at home, but followed it up with a 7-1 thrashing by Borussia Dortmund in Germany. Their next assignment in the competition comes a week on Wednesday away to Italian side Atalanta, with further ties against Leipzig (h), Club Brugge (h), Dinamo Zagreb (a), Young Boys (h) and Aston Villa (a).

Celtic were humbled 7-1 in their last Champions League outing against Dortmund. | SNS Group

Current Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers came under fire for his expansive approach against Borussia Dortmund and Stubbs does believe the Northern Irishman will tweak his approach away from home. However, his expectation is for Celtic to make at least the play-off phase - and Stubbs spelled out the number of points required to achieve that.

“Even though Brendan said he won’t change his approach, I think he will change it slightly when Celtic play away from home,” said Stubbs. “They can play beautiful, front-footed football at Celtic Park, there’s no doubt about that, but when they go away from home, I do think his approach will be slightly different. It will have to be.

“Brendan’s record in Europe is certainly something that he’ll look to improve this season, because it hasn’t been great. Celtic’s dominance of domestic football in Scotland does put the Champions League into sharper focus.

“When you look at this new format, you would like to think that Celtic would get into the play-off positions at a minimum. That has to be the minimum requirement for Brendan in the Champions League this season, finishing from ninth to twenty-fourth in the table.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is expected to tweak his approach to Champions League away matches. | SNS Group

“Looking at the points, realistically, to finish in those positions, it looks like you might get away with nine points, but ten to fourteen is the benchmark, and Celtic already have three on the board.

“I look at the games, they’ve got Atalanta away next, which is going to be tough, so you wouldn’t expect them to get something there. Then they’ve got Leipzig at home, Club Bruges at home, and then Zagreb away. Those are the games where they need to start putting points on the board. If they can take six points from those games, then they’re almost there in terms of making that play-off. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s certainly doable.”

Speaking in an interview with BestBettingSites.com, Stubbs added: “Looking further ahead, they’ve got Young Boys and then Villa away. It’s going to be tough, but it’s achievable. I think if they don’t get the required points to finish in the play-off positions then the Champions League would be looked at as a failure for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic this season. It would be really disappointing if Celtic’s European campaign ended at the group stage.”