A Dutch pundit tore strips off Brendan Rodgers in an astonishing rant live on TV – blaming the boss’s DATA for Cameron Carter-Vickers’ own goal.
Celtic made it difficult for themselves against Club Brugge with Carter-Vickers‘ blind backpass gifting the Belgians the opener before Daizen Maeda got them out of jail in the second half. A 1-1 draw gave them a valuable Champions League point in their quest to finish in the top 24 which would set up, at minimum, a playoff to reach the last 16. They could have done without the howler from the American though as they dropped points in one of the games earmarked as winnable.
Speaking after the game, Rodgers wasn’t pointing any fingers, insisting mistakes happen. But one pundit, speaking on Dutch-language Belgian TV station VTM, didn’t quite see it the same way – arguing the manager himself was to blame. Former Anderlecht striker Jan Mulder was assessing the game afterwards and made some bizarre and seemingly unfounded claims about Rodgers’ data-led approach.
The 79-year-old, who played three times for the Netherlands in the late 1960s, said: “I see it almost every week in the Netherlands. We invented total football, but now there’s a Christmas party in the asylum every week. This is the new kind of football, I’m afraid, and that’s because of that data.
“Defenders are now asked to build up. If they make a wrong pass, the computer will put a cross next to their name and of course they don’t want that.
“Insane! This is not Carter-Vickers’ fault, but of his trainer (Brendan Rodgers). This can’t be such a thing, can it? As a neutral in the stadium, you are already terrified by such phases, let alone if you are a fan of the team that does it.”