Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has called on supporters to "show a little bit of patience" after seeing his side scrape into the Champions League playoffs.
The Scottish champions were pushed all the way by Astana at Celtic Park on Wednesday, requiring a Moussa Dembele penalty in stoppage time to progress through.
Rodgers understands that the Bhoys are under pressure to succeed, but believes home fans can do more to get behind their players when the going gets tough against more defence-minded opponents.
"The supporters were unbelievable for us but the only thing I can say is that they need to show a little bit of patience as well," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News. "I am a Celtic supporter, I know what they want and I know how desperately they want it but they put the players on edge at times.
"In modern football, European football, domestic football, teams are organised. So if you can't play forward and you can't play sideways, you have to come back. But when you come back, you shouldn't be on edge because you come back. We have to circulate the ball to get out the other side to try to provoke them to be disorganised to hopefully score a goal.
"So I hope going forward, instead of having that edginess, trust the players, trust our game model and how we work and as we saw here, eventually we can get there. But apart from that it was a wonderful atmosphere and brilliant support and again they helped push us over the line."
The draw for the playoff round of the Champions League takes place in Nyon on Friday morning.
Daniel Lewis
