Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

Wish he wouldn't be so rigid about his subs. 60 min mark all the time. Could have done with them on at HT. Obvious it wasn't working for certain players today..

 

Got to be concerned about the performances of Engels and Idah today. Needs to earn his money and figure out how to get them consistent and involved.

 

His use of the bench has been fantastic this season.

 

Big game on Wed now..

 

Over two weeks away mate, think we can relax for now

 

Nope..

Sligo on Wed mate..

 

Brendan Rodgers admits Celtic were far too comfortable in the first half of their dramatic come-from-behind win over Ross County.

Dortmund may have ripped the out of it in midweek, but Rodgers felt the champions were firmly back in their comfort zone during the opening 45 minutes in Dingwall. Ronan Hale's retaken penalty two minutes before the break served as a wake up call, and a fire more fired up Celtic re-emerged from the tunnel after the break, and turned things around through Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kuhn


The Rodgers told Sky Sports: "Listen, nothing surprises you. We just need it to be faster, we were just too slow. There's no easy game but you can't look for an easy game either. So you've got to get out of your comfort zone and I thought it was too comfortable first half. Just in everything; speed, , movement, not enough runs to break the line and it gave us very little. We had lots of the ball but not penetrating enough, but sometimes that can happen. You can't always be perfect

The second half, I thought the guys coming into the game - Paulo (Bernardo) and Luke (McCowan) were outstanding. Movement, flexible, got on the ball, made runs and Kyogo coming in stretched the line and Jamesy (Forrest) with his quality. So we had the means to affect the game and thankfully, things turned out well for us."


Asked if the first half was down to a hangover from their Dortmund, Rodgers replied: "Yeah, these things can happen. When you're playing against a well organised team, it can happen




But of course it's a big energy to put into the game like we had and then you;re coming here again and you have to produce the same energy to get the win. We just didn't quite have that in the first half.




"But thankfully the players showed a magnificent response. I've always said resilience, grit and determination - this team have that in bucket loads so we were able to get the result. Seven wins out of seven is a great start for us

 

Lot of player threads seem to be the same just now, up one week down the next.

We've started the season very well but there's a lot of inconsistent performances from a few players. Don't know how you resolve that but it just takes a day like today when more than a few have one and it's dropped points. Thankfully the subs perked us up.

 

That's the strength of the squad..

But, we have to be content with the start we've made.. Even with the Dortmund shambles.

 

To be fair, it makes sense when you look at who's playing.

Engels, Bernardo and Kuhn are all players who are continually improving, all still young but will definitely have the odd inconsistent game, by the end of the season I fully expect all 3 of them to be fully settled.

Defence is a bit more obvious as to why it's shaky, we've lost CCV and Taylor to injuries and I don't think Johnston has been 100% since the last international break. Trusty has been thrown in twice and we've suffered for it. It's easier saying now but we 100% needed another CB in the summer window, especially as Nawrocki isn't in the manager's plans and Welsh is atrocious.

Attack I think we're a bit more consistent but we still lack another winger who offers something different, easier said than done but I'd love us to go and find a left sided Kuhn in the January window. Idah, despite his price tag, is still a big work in progress so you'll see games like today where he doesn't do much.

Over-all, an excellent start to the season with one blip (a major blip tbh) The International break couldn't come at a better time for us.

 

Tbh he's making the obvious changes - so not gonna go crazy with the praise there as Hatate, Engels and Idah were mince all day. Also the fact we have a strong bench now will naturally favour us with the 5 subs rule. Gonna get us out of jail a lot this season.

 

Brendan and KT tonight at the Celtic FC Foundation Annual Gala Dinner in London.

 

Defos think that if Kt didn’t get injured during the euros he would be playing for us just now and Valle was brought in to do us a job till the end of this season then Kieran will come home.