Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

Dominated the 1st half and could/should of been 3 up, however playing our usual style was also giving our centre backs trouble as lack of pace and 40 yards of space inbehind them was risky.

We got the goal we wanted and no longer needed to take the risk.

Sat back, took away the space in behind and centre backs could defend far more comfortably on edge of their own box knowing they could deal with what they had to offer with the game in front of them.

It was such a smart change to make and won us the game.

As others hage said as good as Ange was, he had plan A and that was it, he wouldn't have made that tactical change.

Rodgers flexibility makes me feel more confident going into champions league games than under Ange. I could never see him getting us results in europe with hsi style of play

 

Not too sure about the Ange part, he done the same twice against them when we were 3-0 up at Half Time

 

Ange did exactly this against them on multiple occasions, mate. The 2-1 at Ibrox, League Cup Final last year, and the Scottish Cup Semi. In each of those games we dominated the first part, took the lead, and then sat back and soaked up pressure for the rest.

 

3-0 game was the same, game was done and dusted first half so took our foot off in the 2nd. The sillybillies made out that Jack coming on changed the game

 

Wording on Hatate is interesting

 

Maybe reading too much into it, but sounded to me like he was implying that Hatate wasn't really committed prior to his injury. Fingers crossed he's back in ahead of Turnbull soon.

 

Maybe not not committed but I certainly think his head was turned a bit and certainly wasnt fully focused.

Hopefully we'll see the best of him again now that window is closed

 

* half taken up by Harry McGuire..

 

Harry Maguire’s head takes up a lot of space, only letting it be half is a result.

 

I think him saying focused is far different than committed. You can lose focus when you’re still fully committed.

Look the thing for me, we managed to keep him here, there will be repercussions of that. Offers from Saudi for him was absolutely on the table, then links to the likes of Brighton that hands down would be an incredible move for him personally.

You can be distracted, be weighing up what to do, and still be happy and committed where you are but distracted.

Now he’s no distractions, he’s focused. We’ll need to see if that’s the case but the game he got injured, it sure looked that way to me.

 

More people should talk about this. It's a kind of bullying and it's quite amazing how normalised it has become. I'm not innocent of this myself. I also found myself laughing on a few occasions, such as last year when he came on in a European game and scored an own goal that turned the tie.

We need to stop doing this, the effect on his mental health must be awful. Fair play to Brendan for sticking up for his former player.

 

Aye, no issues with Rodgers addressing it, but one question would have been enough in a presser about Celtic..

 

Poor first half, but that second half was excellent, we played some really good stuff.

We look a lot more fluid with Hatate starting, I'm excited to see us play with a fully fit team.

 

Now watch Brendan guide us to 3 points again on Tuesday night

 

Everything that Brendan Rodgers said to Celtic TV after the champions 3-0 Scottish Premiership win over Dundee

What was your assessment of the game?

I was very pleased with that performance on the back of an international break. Some of the players have been away and only returned yesterday (Friday). I thought the team did very well. In the first half, we created some opportunities and we were unfortunate not to go in front. You need that first goal and you have to give credit to Dundee as they were very organised and made it very difficult. We kept persevering and I congratulate the crowd as it seems a simple thing but at 0-0 at half-time, it can get a little bit edgy. The supporters saw what the team was trying to do. In games like this here it might be the last 20 to 25 minutes that wins you the game. In the second half, we increased the tempo of the game and I thought the goals that we got were good. We got the penalty and after that, we looked like we were going to score more. It was a very good second half and I am really pleased with the clean sheet.

It looked as if there was more rhythm in the second half and is that a knock-on from having two weeks off and not having everyone together? Of course, that makes it very difficult to get the breakthrough against a team that is as resolute as Dundee without that rhythm.

Yes. I just think it's patience and time. We want to play at a tempo but you have to give credit to Dundee as they worked very hard and their goalkeeper made some good saves. It looked like we had scored through Daizen Maeda and he had another great shot in the box that Trevor Carson saved. We were persistent with it. In the second half, we just needed to keep doing what we were doing but up the tempo a wee bit. Our quality came through in the end



As a manager, you must be pleased as it felt like a real squad performance today. There were some great individual performances when it came to assists and goals. Did you think that some good performances came from everywhere on the pitch?

I think that is important. It is very much a collective effort. Collectively they all worked hard and the goals were excellent after the penalty David (Turnbull) scored with great composure. The second one is a fantastic ball from Callum (McGregor) and Kyogo does what he does as he is lethal in front of goal. The third goal really pleases me as we double up on the pressing and win the ball back and it eventually gets to Matty (O'Riley) and he scores it really well. That was very pleasing. Alistair Johnston is unfortunate a couple of times as I said to him yesterday I thought he could maybe score but overall it was a very good professional performance.

The substitutes played their part but a player you have not been able to utilise is Reo Hatate. He looked up for that today and he had a big influence on the game. How delighted are you to see him back?

He (Reo) is an outstanding player. He brings us a dynamic in the team that a few players don't have. It was just getting him up to speed. I wanted to give him half an hour to see how he would recover from that. Now we can look towards him for Tuesday night. Initially, he was tentative and just getting his surroundings again but once he gets a flow he is a very good player for us.




You are off to Rotterdam in midweek we know that is going to be a different occasion. Nat Phillips went off at half-time and we were worried about Kyogo early on. Are you hopeful that you will have as many of the squad as possible available in midweek?

Yes. I think with Nat it was a precaution. In the very last action, he rolled his ankle a little bit. He could have played on but we just wanted to give him the 45 minutes instead of the 60 minutes we had planned. Kyogo felt his shoulder and he did a little bit of work on that and he came back out and he was fine.