Celtic can't let Barcelona loss affect it in SPFL return vs. Inverness
Tuesday night at the Camp Nou was not fun for anyone wearing the Hoops on or off the pitch. That’s what happens when you get thrashed 7-0 in the opening match of the Champions League group stage.
If there was a silver lining in such a loss, it was that the Bhoys have a chance to not stew on the defeat for too long. After all, it is right back to SPFL play this weekend, with a trip to Inverness awaiting them.
Brendan Rodgers may not have been embarrassed by a 7-0 defeat to Barca, but he must avoid an equally embarrassing loss to Inverness on Saturday if his team wants to really put that loss behind it.
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With Calley on just four points from its first five games and sitting on a minus-six goal differential, this is exactly the type of game that could be cathartic for the Bhoys in Green. There’s little that will cure the taste of a bad defeat better than doing it to someone else right in return.
Sadly, we’ve seen it all to often in the world of sport — a shocking defeat has a way of dragging a team down just as much as a shocking win can carry a team to great heights.
Celtic simply can’t let Barcelona affect it on the weekend and see the team drop points in domestic competition. If that happens, then serious questions must be asked about this team and its psyche.
To that end, Rodgers guarded against his players letting that nightmare scenario happen on the weekend.
“When you’re on the other end, it is not so nice, but we can’t be too downheartened. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing Barcelona or Berwick Rangers, there’s still professional pride. But they are a team of top world-class players and this will not hamper us in any way. We have a lot of learning to do, we will recover, and the experience will be good for us.”
Rodgers also played up the theme of a team mentally and physically drained from its weekend clash with Rangers ahead of its UCL debut for 2016-17. If that is the case, then what happens to the team with just one extra day on the turnaround?
Will Rodgers modify his squad in the hopes of keeping players fresh, or will the group that was trashed on Tuesday night be the ones to go out and build the confidence back up for the squad?
No matter the decision, Celtic can not let what happened to it on Tuesday night snowball at all. If Rodgers is smart, getting the squad to focus on the fact that Celtic are defending an undefeated start to Scottish Premiership play will be the focus.
Will that re-focus be enough motivation for a match against Inverness after the trashing it just took? Saturday’s usually ho-hum match against Calley suddenly has much more significance.
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