BRENDAN Rodgers today defended his tactics in the aftermath of Celtic's heavy 3-0 defeat by Bayern Munich in Germany - and insisted they can still qualify for Europe after Christmas this season.
The Scottish champions conceded goals to Thomas Muller and Joshua Kimmich in the first half and Mats Hummels in the second half to crash to a painful loss in their third Group B game in the Allianz Arena last night.
Rodgers admitted he had been disappointed by this side's play at the back - but he denied he had played into the hands to Jupp Heynckes's team by refusing to take a more defensive approach to the game.
Read more: Party over as Bayern Munich expose Celtic's defensive shortcomings
The Glasgow club are still in third place in their section after leaders Paris Saint-Germain thrashed Anderlecht 4-0 in Belgium and their manager remains confident they can at least progress to the last 32 of the Europa League.
“I was disappointed in the nature of the goals we conceded," he said. "They were poor goals from our perspective.
"But there was still a lot for us in the game, particularly in the second half in how we built the game from behind and tried to play how we like to work in order to create our chances.
"There is no denying we are playing against a top class side and we felt we could have done better with the goals we conceded and with some of our build-up play.”
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Asked if he should have been more pragmatic, Rodgers replied: “I think we decide how we play. It’s not about being pragmatic at the goals we conceded. We didn’t defend our box well enough when the crosses came in. We can do better with those.
"But, listen, I would rather lose a game playing how we want to play and how we want to work rather than sitting in and defending for 90 minutes and still losing, if that’s the case.
"Myself, my staff and the players we had going into the game can take lots of positives and have lots to look forward to the second game against them at Celtic Park.
"You come away into these big arenas and big games and you want to show the level of your football. That won’t change. We will look to do that, rather than sitting in and suffering during every game."
Read more: Bayern Munich 3, Celtic 0; Scottish champions brought crashing back to earth by German masterclass
Rodgers added: “You have to be a realist as well and respect who we are playing against. Of course, we want to be competitive at this level but you also have to measure the level of quality you are playing against.
"My players gave absolutely everything tonight. This is a really honest group of men, who have been absolutely amazing domestically and to qualify for this competition.
"It is huge ask for us. Progress for us is to be in Europe after Christmas and that is still our aim and still our focus.
"But of course in every game we play we want to give our best. And there was lots of tonight that I was pleased with. But of course the nature of the goals we conceded can be a lot better.
Read more: Party over as Bayern Munich expose Celtic's defensive shortcomings
"For this group and this squad, it is about constructing a mindset and a way of working. It is not going to happen overnight. There are a lot of elements.
"It’s a constant thing, constant work and experience at this level. Coming to this stadium and playing against this level of opponent was always going to be difficult.
"But there was enough in this game for me to see and feel confidence that the players are improving. It is something we will hopefully develop over the course of these coming years."
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