Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

Or?

 

Aye lads, as I said I'm not wanting him as manager and would prefer if he proved himself in that job elsewhere. I want someone fresh and selfishly with no prior connection to the club.

 

We gave the job to someone who had been sacked by Hibs a few months earlier to follow on from Rodgers last time. *, if Lennon got Dunfermline promoted this season, I genuinely wouldn’t even be surprised if they appointed him again. I wouldn’t rule anyone out of managing us next season.

 

Nah raith pumped them. He'll last until Christmas

 

Maloney and Brown it will be.....

Not even looking excited to games anymore.

Absolute * doing this.

 

I'd rule out Rodgers

 

Rodgers is a *. He could have made 2 or 3 changes, but no,he makes as many as he can.
I get that he's been shafted by the board, but he still needs to do the best with the hand he's been dealt.

That's what managers do, they manage. If Rodgers isn't prepared to do the best he can with what he's got , he can * off

 

Feels like the first few months when he came back with the turgid as * football. Luckily we've had an easier run if fixtures this time.

 

Does feel like we're trying to walk the ball into the net, never seems to pop a shot outside the box or even just in.

 

He has made the correct changes given the magnitude of the game coming up midweek. The complete lack of attacking options are being badly exposed. Today’s starting lineup is 100% the correct team given the game midweek.

 

PLEASE NO!

 

I hope Rodgers places a little kore faith and game time on Inamura, Shin and Murray going forward. There's players there who can easily cope with 75% of the league. Get them in there learning and let the grow.

 

Love me some Brendan. You haters gonna hate. * off, the lot of you!

 

Where'd that come from ? Not sure I've heard him mentioned in the last 5 years.

Good lad though.

 

What were your thoughts on that game, Brendan?

I'm really pleased with the performance. They're a team who are compact, tight, lots of bodies behind the ball and we had to be patient in the game. We should have been in front going in at half-time, but we weren't.

I was very pleased and we created opportunities, especially into the second half. It's a continuation of how we've been domestically. Strong defensively, not giving away much, controlling the games, creating opportunities, and we scored very good goals today.

Benjamin Nygren made an impact today, how happy were you with his performance?

Yeah, considering he's playing out of position, we've obviously played him on the right-hand side, but he has a natural instinct to score.

Sometimes that hindered us a wee bit in the first half because he rolls inside, and we normally have wingers out ther,e and the full-backs run from the inside.

So sometimes we've got players coming across the pitch to play forward, and he's on the inside, so we didn't quite have the width. But he has taken his two goals really well.

That's why we brought him here. He can score goals from midfield. He anticipates the first one, it's a great finish, and the second one's a really good finish. So, pleased for him.




When you make so many changes, Brendan, do you see that as any kind of risk at all in terms of changing it?

I don't tend to. I think that if you're at Celtic, you've got to be good enough to play, and especially at home and when you want to dominate a game.

I was pleased for those guys that have come in.

Hayato Inamura, I've always said I think that he's come here, he can play in games of dominance when you have 75-80% and can serve it. So he did well.

I thought Dane Murray was excellent until he tired in the last 15 minutes. He was excellent. He and Scales were steady.

The midfield three worked hard. Benji gets his goals. And then we introduced a bit more quality around the hour mark and that stabilises the game and then it was just a matter of how many we could score, whilst keeping it tight from the back.








What's your latest update on who's available to travel with you tomorrow or who would be missing?

I'm not sure if Auston Trusty will make it. Adam Idah, we'll wait and see. But hopefully he'll be available for the squad.

Jahmai Simpson-Pusey wasn't in the squad today, has he got a knock?

No. No, he's just not in the squad. He's come in as a talent. Really the first part of the season was to get him through until the international break, used to how we'd be working because he's coming from training with a group of players, he's played no minutes at all over the pre-season, so he's not ready. But we're keeping an eye on him and hopefully after the international break, he can make some sort of impact, but that would be up to him. But he's a talent.

You had a chance to introduce Colby Donovan. Are you happy with how he did?

I really like Colby. I think he's got the personality to play for Celtic. Got the hunger, good size, serves the ball well. You see straight away when he comes in, he's not timid, he's aggressive. I think with Colby it's about balancing up whether he goes out on loan or whether we keep him here and get him some minutes. That'll be what we have to decide. But I really like him and I think longer term he'll be a fantastic player for the squad here.

Johnny Kenny took his goal well, is he a confidence player?

Yes. I'm really pleased for him because he works so hard. He trains ever so well, scores his goals, and just hasn't quite got there in the games. But it's a really good goal, it's a really good move and he gets across his marker, gets the contact. I'm really pleased for him.

If Adam doesn't make it on Tuesday, can Johnny Kenny come in and do a job for you?

I value all the players that are here now. There's a lot made of what we don't have. We're all clear on that, I think we can all see that we need to strengthen that top end of the pitch. There's no denying that. But I have to really value the players that are here. They've worked so hard over pre-season. We've started the season domestically very well.

We've had one half that strangely was a bit passive. Sometimes that happens over two legs. You don't really know the team and then you start slow and a bit sluggish and then you're not quite at your level. But apart from that, apart from that first half, these players, there's a lot of noise, but these players I really value, the ones that are here, and they've performed domestically like you see, three wins, not conceding hardly anything, and in some of those games we've scored four, we've scored three, and other games we've had to win by the odd goal. They're working very hard. We know what we need to do. And as I said, we'll take this squad to Tuesday and get the job done.

But how do you make sure, Brendan, that that doesn't happen again, that you don't have that kind of slow start?

That's something we can emphasise like I did for today's game. It's something that's very important. You can never ever guarantee it, even when you know that's your mantra.

If I think of the games we've had, St Mirren and Aberdeen and Falkirk and now this game here, in the main, we have started strongly in those games. So I think the difference now in this second leg is that it's winner takes all.

Despite all the noise, you're top of the league, you have to be happy with that?

That's always the nature, and that's our plan. The plan is to navigate our way through, especially this opening period. And we all know, all of us that have been around this long enough, knows that this sort of transfer period is always a challenge for all teams.

You get players in and out, players thinking about going and that, but the focus of the team has been really good. And I think that these players have started very well despite noise and all the transfer stuff around it. And I'm really pleased for them because we and they deserve that, and now we have to go and make this count on Tuesday.

Do you feel confident that Kairat will see a different Celtic on Tuesday night?

Yes, I don't think there's any doubt about that. I've had games like I said before that went for us. Some that haven't. So there are some that haven't. But, it's winner takes all now. And everything is there for us to do it.

They're a good side, well-organised, always tough in European football to go away. But we know what we need to do. And we're going to give absolutely everything to get the result and be at the top table of European football.

There's a report in Belgium that there's a delegation over to negotiation for Michel-Ange Balikwisha, are you confident that this deal is close?

Well, I think the delegation was at this game were they not? I don't know who else would talk contract talks. There's a number of players that we've been at for a number of months. So we'll see over the next 48 hours what that looks like.

Luke McCowan came off, is he okay?

He was struggling with the top of his foot. I think he'll be okay. I think his foot was stood on. And he had a bit of pain and was sore for him. He should hopefully be okay.

 

Alan Nixon


BRENDAN RODGERS is top of the wanted list at Nottingham Forest when they move for a new boss.

The Celtic chief is hugely admired by owner Evangelos Marinakis, whose relationship with Nuno Espirito Santos is growing strained.


Rodgers stated on Friday that there is no chance of him leaving Celtic before his three-year contract ends next summer.

But straight-talking Marinakis has had his eyes on Rodgers for months and could try to take the former Liverpool and Leicester boss back to England.

Rodgers is in the last year of his deal and at Celtic and, if his situation at Parkhead was to change, the compensation figure would not be a problem.


Forest are going into a big campaign at homeand back in Europe but that has not stopped a rift between owner and coach.



Nuno has gone public in recent weeks over signings and his latest remarks have been about a cooling of his friendship with Marinakis.

There can only ever be one winner and the timing of the change could even come soon.

Ex-Celts gaffer Ange Postecoglou has been linked with Forest and is clear to take a job if approached

Fenerbahce boss Jose Mourinho has also had ties with the Forest job but would be expensive and also comes with his own fiery reputation.

 

We end up with John Kennedy as manger

 

He's not leaving, the chance of him staying oast this season are very slim, but he'll stay till the end of this season.

 

Wouldn’t blame Brendan if he did go


But hopefully Alan is talking *