Celtic have plenty of work to do to reach the league phase of the Champions League after drawing a blank in a 0-0 first-leg draw of their play-off against Kazakh side Kairat Almaty at Parkhead.
Frustrations at Celtic Park boiled over off the pitch too, as the home fans chanted ‘sack the board’ throughout after an underwhelming summer transfer window so far.
Asked about the chants by TNT Sports, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers said: “I don’t know any board that gets sacked. It’s normally the manager in any club I ever see. It’s the manager that gets the sack, it’s not the board.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers (right) and Reo Hatate show their disappointment
“But we have to go away and analyse tonight and see where we could be better. The guys that are out there, especially the top end of the pitch, they’re giving their all, they’re giving everything.
“But like we’ve said many times, in order to progress at this level and into European football, we need to have more. It’s as simple as that. But we won’t have that for Tuesday (second leg).”
Celtic have it all to do in the second leg in Kazakhstan
In Rodgers’ 800th match as a manager, there was no traditional early onslaught by the Hoops as the accomplished Kazakh champions more than matched their hosts.
However, with Hyun-Jun Yang on for Adam Idah and Daizen Maeda moving to centre forward at the start of the second half, Celtic stepped up the pace and piled on the pressure in the later stages, but could not find a way through despite 10 added minutes.
After Saturday’s home Scottish Premiership game against Livingston, Celtic will get ready for the return leg in Kazakhstan next Tuesday night, which involves a 7,000-mile round trip, knowing qualification requires perhaps more work than many anticipated.
But Kairat will be without 17-year-old Chelsea-bound Dastan Satpayev for the return leg after he was booked in stoppage time to earn a suspension.
The visitors settled early, and in the 11th minute, captain Aleksandr Martynovich had the ball in the Hoops’ net from close range but was offside.
Auston Trusty looks dejected at full-time
With Satpayev influential, Kairat attacked fluidly and at pace on the counter, dampening the mood of the expectant home support.
In the 32nd minute, Celtic defender Alastair Johnston pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury as he backtracked and was taken from the field on a stretcher, replaced by Anthony Ralston.
Moments later, Kairat goalkeeper Alexandr Zarutskiy saved from Maeda when Celtic at last got through, but at the other end Ofri Arad’s powerful drive flew just wide of Schmeichel’s post.
Within a minute of Yang coming on, he set up James Forrest, whose shot was touched onto a post and then gathered by Zarutskiy.
In the 58th minute, after some sloppiness by Carter-Vickers in the Hoops defence, Brazilian striker Edmilson tried a speculative shot from 40 yards and it landed on the roof of Schmeichel’s goal.
In stoppage time, Celtic’s Maeda spurned a chance when he ran through alone and could only manage a tame shot which was easily saved, and there were boos at the end from irate supporters.
McGregor: Players felt ‘anxious’ Celtic Park
Celtic captain Callum McGregor shows his frustration
Celtic captain Callum McGregor speaking to TNT Sports:
“In the first half, we never had enough intensity in the game. We were too slow, too passive, with and without the ball, and that gives them a bit of encouragement in the game and makes the place anxious, and then it sort of snowballs from there.
“But in the second half, we started the half really well. We were on the front foot for the whole second half. We just lacked that bit of quality to get the goal to open the game up.”
On whether the crowd’s anxiety came through: “Not for the group. We’ve been playing really well. We don’t start the game well, and that’s where the anxiety is, because we know how much everyone wants it.
“Everyone wants to be in the Champions League, so when that starts to fester through the stadium, of course, then the players feel it. But it’s our job to try and work that out and keep playing.”
Rodgers: We were on autopilot in the first half
Rodgers could not win his 800th match as a manager
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers speaking to TNT Sports:
“I think when you play at home at this stage and at this level, then of course we want to take an advantage. We didn’t do that, but I’ve also been here before in a qualification game.
“We drew 0-0 here with Rosenborg here a few years back and went on and played really well in the away leg, so we’re going to have to do that out there, but we’ll certainly need to play better than what we did in the first half. In the first half, we were very passive and lacked belief, and we were slow. Everything that has been good in our game up until this point wasn’t there.
“The second half was much better, but we just lacked that little bit of quality in the final third.”
On the poor first half: “I just felt that we weren’t thinking so much in the game. We were just on autopilot a little bit and lost the connections in the game and the speed. Didn’t move well enough as a team.
“So we had to correct that at half-time, and we had a much better response right from the off in the second half. And then hit the post and a couple of other little moments where we were close, but we just lacked that little bit of quality that you need to break them down.”