Brendan Fraudgers!

:smiley-laughing002:

 

He heard us calling in the night. What a guy.

 

Not going to post a link to the DR but according to Broony Rodgers has had them working on flexibility with formations so that opposition teams don't automatically know how we'll set up and on how to set up in defence when we are attacking to fix our ridiculous vulnerability to counterattacks.

Halle-*-luya!

 

BRENDAN Rodgers was a satisfied man after he watched his side come through another rigorous pre-season exercise in the 1-1 draw with English champions Leicester City.
The Foxes took the lead early in the second-half through an exquisite curling shot from Rihad Mahrez, but Celtic hit back through Irish youngster Eoghan O’Connell, who beat Kasper Schmeichel with a fantastic first-time finish from the edge of the box.
Leicester took home the International Champions Cup trophy, winning 6-5 on penalty kicks, but the manager took further encouragement at how his players were progressing.
He said: “It was a good exercise for us. For a pre-season friendly, it was played at a good intensity and both teams played well.
“For us, the main objective was the fitness element – it was very important for us. We are mixing between a competition and a preparation phase, so fitness-wise it was very good for us but, of course, you are playing for pride as well and the players played very well.
“We want to be a team on the front foot but if you go behind in the game you need that belief that you can keep coming back. It was a real good test for us because you can see at this early stage that Leicester's players of that level come back at a good level of fitness. It was a good test for us and the players did really well.
“It’s still very early and we are still working to improve our fitness and ideas. We still want some more players to come in and help the team but I can’t ask anymore of the players. Their comfort with the ball needs to be better, it wasn’t perfect, but I don’t expect it to be at this stage of pre-season.”
It was Eoghan O’Connell’s first goal for the club, having graduated from the Celtic Youth Academy, and it capped off an impressive showing from the 20-year-old defender.
“He’s a young player who has a good idea of the game,” said the Hoops boss.”I have been really impressed of his understanding of the game. He plays the position very well and he wants to defend first and foremost, but you can see his comfort on the ball.
“His finish was a great finish. It comes out and he has really seen it early and he has used the defender in front of him to guide it in and to beat Schmeichel, who is a wonderful keeper, from that distance means it was a great finish.”
After today’s tussle with Leicester City, the Scottish champions will now turn their attentions to Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League third qualifying round first-leg fixture away to FC Astana.
Although Brendan Rodgers knows the difficulties that await the Hoops in Kazakhstan, he’s content with how his team are gearing up for the game.
“I’ve watched their games and it looks a much better surface, it looks a fast pitch over there,” he said. “I understand the difficulty of the game with their results in the Champions League there last year.
"We know it’s going to be a tough game but our preparation is going really well. We are improving every day, with our fitness levels and our football ideas, but we need to get better with the ball, that’s for sure, but that’s improving and I’m happy.”
Stefan Johansen and Kristoffer Ajer should be available for selection, despite the pair’s recent injury concerns, with the latter sustaining a break in his hand below his thumb.
“He’s in a plastic cast so we are working to get something on his hand that will allow him to be involved,” said the manager. “We are having a session afterwards and he is training this evening so he should be okay.”
“Stefan was back training towards the end of the week and he had a little run out for about 25 to 30 minutes and he looked fine.”

 

BRENDAN Rodgers is confident that whatever team he selects tomorrow (Wednesday) against FC Astana will rise to the challenge of harvesting a positive result.
Celtic will take on the Kazakhstan title-winners for a place in the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League – the final hurdle before the lucrative group stages.
The Hoops have been hit by several untimely injuries ahead of the crucial clash, particularly in the central defensive department of the team, with Erik Sviatchenko and Kristoffer Ajer joining long-term absentees Dedryck Boyata and Jozo Simunovic on the treatment table.
But the manager, pleased at how his charges performed at the weekend against English champions Leicester City and throughout pre-season, has firm belief in his players to put themselves in a favourable position for the return match in Paradise.
Speaking ahead of the game, the Hoops boss said: “In these games, it was always going to be a case of doing the very best we possibly could with the limited time and numbers that we had. But I am confident that whatever team we put out will do their very best, like we saw in Saturday’s game.
“Erik didn’t play at the weekend but I felt how the players shaped up and worked in the game against Leicester, who were a very good opponent, we dealt very well with. I have every confidence that whatever player I put in, will give their best and do their best for the team."
Efe Ambrose and young centre-half Eoghan O’Connell, who capped off an impressive display against Leicester on Saturday with a terrific equalising goal, could be in line to fill the void in the heart of the backline.
The Hoops boss said: “Both players have worked very well. I have been really impressed in particular by young Eoghan over the course of pre-season. He’s a good size. First and foremost he wants to defend.
"In the short period of time I've worked with him, I can see he is good in the air. He has been in and around the first-team for a few years now and he’s had some loan experience playing senior football.
“He was up against a tough opponent at the weekend. Even though Leicester were only back a few weeks, my experience of working with the players at that level is that they come back into the season already fit. They were at a good level of fitness and I felt Eoghan coped with that very well – the speed of their team.
“He has a real in-built brain for football, he understands the game very well for a young player and, importantly, he plays the game well. For young players, if they show those qualities and professionalism, I never have fears of putting them in.
“In terms of Efe, people have seen him a lot more than me, and he knows that if he can cut out mistakes and errors that he makes in games then you have a very good player. Physically he’s very strong, he’s very fast and he’s good in the air. It’s just about decision-making and simplifying the game and if he can do that then he can be an asset.
“Those two players are two of very few central defenders which are available. Clearly, you can see there are a lot of injuries within the squad and that was prior to me coming in: Simunovic, who is a big talent, was injured and Boyata who was injured in the summer, and if you add Erik to that then it leaves you very short.
“But I have no qualms about who I put into the game as the strength of us will be the team rather than the individual and the team we put out will hopefully get the result.”
Sviatchenko didn't travelled to Kazakhstan, having sustained a groin injury before the Leicester friendly, and he will be assessed by the club’s medical team to see if he can return to the reckoning for the return game.
The manager said: “He had been working well. Unfortunately before the game at the weekend, he picked up a groin strain which makes him unavailable for tomorrow night. We will assess that over the course of the next week and see if he will be available for the second-leg.
“He wasn’t available for this game, so we will see when we get back and assess it from there. It just depends. It was a slight groin strain he picked up on the Friday, so we will see."
Kristoffer Ajer suffered a knock to his hand prior to the meeting with Foxes, which prevented him making the trip to Astana.
The Hoops boss added: “You also have to remember that Kristoffer is only 18 years of age. He has come into the squad and he’s working very well but there is no rush with Kristoffer. We will see how he is for the weekend in terms of his hand and assess it from there.”

 

Got to give him credit for his subs, all subs contributed more in their short time on the park than the players they replaced, even Forrest did OK.

 

Agreed, each sub had an impact. Especially Bitton.

 

Watching this team play, its incredible how big of a difference an experienced manager can have. I was always a defender of Ronny, nearly up until the end, but the way Rodgers lays out his game plan and how he adapts even in the slightest moment of a game is amazing to me. His substitutions were spot on today, and showed heart to stand up for KT at the end. I'm loving the Rodgers revolution :icon_mrgreen:

 

On Sportsound now..

Local reporter "Are you lucky"

Brendan " Yes, I'm Irish"

Quality..

 

post match interview

 

Fair play to him.

Never said "character" once :icon_mrgreen:

 

Superb manager.

 

We would have lost that one if Ronny was still manager

 

CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers has hailed his team’s fighting spirit after they battled back in difficult conditions to clinch a vital draw against FC Astana in the Champions League qualifiers.
The Hoops went behind in the first-half to the Kazakhstan outfit, conceding from a header at a corner inside 20 minutes, but regrouped in the remainder of the first 45 minutes and came out fighting after the restart.
Facing up to a vocal home crowd, a difficult playing surface and a dangerous counter-attacking Astana side, Celtic worked their way back into proceedings and scored a crucial equaliser through Leigh Griffiths with just over 10 minutes to go, giving the Bhoys the advantage for next week’s home leg.
“It was an outstanding result for us,” the manager said. “The resilience and strength, mentally, we’ve built-up over the course of pre-season came into effect on an evening like that.
“We were disappointed with the goal, that’s nothing new, but after that we showed wonderful mentality to keep fighting. In the second-half we restricted them to not so many clear chances and we end up scoring a fantastic goal. It’s only half-time but it’s a very important result for us.
“A huge amount of credit goes to the players. We were written off before the game. The opinion was we’d do well to come back with anything other than a loss but the players deserve an immense amount of credit to fight and show that spirit and passion in the game.
“We gained a bit more control of the game and scored a wonderful goal by Leigh so we know the significance of the goal but we are not getting too carried away as we have another game against a very good side.”
Celtic started the match well but their early momentum was stunted by the home side’s opening goal, which came after the Bhoys failed to deal with the first corner of the match.
The manager acknowledged his disappointment in conceding from a set-piece so early in the game away from home against a well-drilled side but said the performance of young players like Eoghan O’Connell, who made his European debut for the Scottish champions in the match, gave him reason to be happy after the 1-1 draw.
“I thought he (Eoghan) was outstanding for a young player being on the fringes of the team for a few years and coming into that environment under that pressure, he made very few mistakes in the game,” the manager added.
“You expect him to make some as a young player but in a real difficult situation he coped and I was very proud of him.
“We had two 19-year-olds in Patrick Roberts on the right and young Kieran Tierney, who it’s only natural for at this time of the season to get a bit of cramp in his calf but he kept fighting.
“Young Eoghan is just 20, other boys are still young, and they are showing signs which are very important at a top club and it’s that ability to fight and he was one of a number of young players that did very well.”

 

You can see EXACTLY why he's wanting to bring in more 'pace' to the wings.

Just now we are pretty 1 dimensional with Roberts, and it does work of course because he's that talented.

Having similar on the other wing will improve us a * of alot.

Even Forrest showed what having two pacey wingers in this set up can do, getting someone in with more trickey and talent than Forrest but with that kind of pace will be ideal.

 

This is the main difference from him and Ronny standing waiting on what to do next

 

It's no flavour of the month to say it but Monaghan is right, ALL of his subs made an impact and we looked a better side for it..

 

Well done again Rodgers, got the subs spot on!