Brendan Fraudgers!

SCOTT Brown has been an integral part of Celtic’s success so far this season, with the Hoops captain producing consistently high performances week in, week out as Brendan Rodgers’ side qualified for the group stages of the Champions League, won the League Cup and established a 16-point lead at the top of the Premiership.

His leadership and experience will be vital this weekend when the Hoops face Rangers at Ibrox in the Glasgow derby, although the Celtic manager also knows that his squad as a whole thrive on big games and big atmospheres.

Speaking ahead of the Hogmanay derby, the Hoops boss said: “The likes of Scott Brown have played there (at Ibrox) and I’m sure that will help some of the other players, but I’m very fortunate in that I’ve got a number of big-game players within our squad, even though some of them are young.

“You look at the Dembeles of this world and in the high-pressure big games, they perform. Scott Sinclair in the big games, the big pressure moments, he performs. So that always gives confidence.

“But for us it’s always about the collective anyway. There’s no-one isolated to worry about being on their own. We’ve very much a team and very much a collective and that’s how we’ll focus on the match.”

Tom Rogic is set to miss the derby match through injury, while Callum McGregor returns to the squad after missing Wednesday night’s 2-0 victory over Ross County through suspension.

The Hoops remain unbeaten domestically this season, and will be looking to maintain that run with a good result in the Glasgow derby ahead of the winter break.

And another big-game player the manager can call upon is Stuart Armstrong, who continued his impressive form with a goal against Ross County, following on from his blistering strike against Hamilton Accies on Christmas Eve.

Under Brendan Rodgers, the 24-year-old has thrived, and the Celtic manager is delighted with the progress of the player.

“I wasn’t here last season so I didn’t know what his performances were like,” the Hoops boss said. “I know the club paid a bit of money for him so they’ve obviously deemed him a talented player.

“As the season has gone on, he’s becoming such a vital part of our team and our way of playing. For him, it was just about understanding exactly what I want from him if he wants to play in central midfield.

“And it’s a huge credit to him and his game that he’s gone away and thought about it, like one or two of the other players who have defined their way of working to match how I want to work and hopefully they’ll see that it’s benefited their game.

“So for Stuart, first and foremost, he’s understands how to press the game, the aggression in his pressing, and then we get him into areas where he can score goals. He has a natural, in-built brain to get into the box and score goals and that’s something I can only encourage him to get there.

“The timing and the ability to arrive in the right place at the right time is down to his intuition in the game. What I do is give him confidence, give him a framework to play from and he’s obviously developing very well.”

 

BR: "It was a brilliant result for us and a great advert for Scottish football."

BR: "Both sets of players did very well considering the conditions."


BR: "First half we didn't start so well but we adjusted a few things at half-time and I thought we thoroughly deserved the win."


BR: "Disappointed just to have scored the two goals."


BR: "We stayed very calm being 1-0 down and it was outstanding second-half performance from us."


BR on @Scotty_Sinclair: "He was incredible today but it was very much a collective win for us."



BR: "I thanked the players before the game on behalf of myself and the supporters for how they've been performing over the past six months."



BR: "They've got themselves on a magnificent path and shown resilience. A huge achievement from them in this opening period."

 

Can tell in the 2nd half he tweeked the system with Armstrong pushing on further and McGregor sitting further back then getting Dembele into the game more. His system is so good that only a few adjustments are needed depending on who we are playing. So tactically aware.

 

The master prevails over the apprentice once again .

 

BEFORE a ball was kicked at Ibrox today Brendan Rodgers thanked his players for their fantastic first-half of the season.

The champions went into this afternoon's lunchtime kick-off 16 points clear at the top of the SPFL Premiership with a fixture in hand over their Glasgow rivals.

That position of power came from an incredible run of 19 games unbeaten in the league and it drew the praise of the Irishman ahead of the final game of 2016. The Hoops returned that praise in-kind, coming from behind to beat Rangers 2-1 and finish the calendar year 19 points clear at the top of the SPFL Premiership.

He said: “I thanked them before the game on behalf of myself as the manager and on behalf of the Celtic supporters for playing how they have been playing for a magnificent club and how they’ve got themselves on an exciting path going forward – Champions League, winning the League Cup, showing incredible resilience that we’ve tried to foster over time.

“If you’re never beaten you’ve got to go right to the end and I thanked them for that, irrespective of the result today, so it has been a huge achievement for them in this opening period of games, especially this month and the nine games everyone’s been talking about.

“They’ve won eight of those and drawn away at Manchester City in the Champions League and I think everyone would commend them for what a great effort it’s been, so now we’ve got to go away, rest for a week and then we come back together again. We’ll work very hard for a couple of weeks on making things better and hopefully in the second part of the season we’ll be ever stronger.”

Celtic uncharacteristically went behind early at Ibrox today, conceding a goal inside the first 15 minutes but, as the manager had predicted earlier in the week, his team showed their ability to stay calm and recover and they eventually equalised through a thunderous Moussa Dembele strike from close range before half-time.

In the second half the Celts stormed out of the gates and could have been well clear of the Ibrox outfit by the hour mark before Scott Sinclair notched his 11th league goal of the season on 70th minute to finally clinch the points.

From then on the Hoops dominated, limiting Rangers to only a couple of chances at the other end, with the champions’ fitness, strength and composure coming to the fore at the conclusion of an entertaining encounter to seal a deserved three points.

“First half we didn’t start so well and didn’t pass the ball so well but we were always a threat on the counter attack, trying to exploit the space but we needed to adjust one or two things at half time and second half we were brilliant,” he added.

“We looked a real threat every time we went forward, looked like we could score, we created opportunities and are disappointed probably just to have two goals.

“It was a brilliant result for us, a real great advert for Scottish football. Both sets of players did well considering the conditions. They were very blustery and there was a lot of rain but we thoroughly deserved it.

“The most pleasing thing of it all was that we talked before about if we went behind in the game, dealing with pressure and finding solutions for that. We stayed very calm, got our goal and played our way back into the game. It was an outstanding performance for us, in particular the second-half, and a really good result.”

 

Did he injure himself celebrating the 2nd goal?

 

Injured his calf celebrating Sinclair's goal.

 

how many more games til Rodgers beats jock steins record?

 

Aye but at least he has
































































a wee calf .....

 

Brendan Rodgers domestic Celtic record: 24 matches, 23 wins, 1 draw. 65 goals scored, 14 goals conceded. 14 clean sheets.

 

reaction from BR after yesterday's game
https://mobile.twitter.com/celticfc/status/815658607928807425/video/1

 

Stuart Armstrong on the manager

SA "I have nothing but praise for him (Rodgers) because he has revived me at Celtic. Not only me, but the team".


Armstrong "We always know he (Rodgers) has a plan to change a game if it’s not going the way we want, he’s always got a plan B".

Armstrong "He (Rodgers) is always thinking how we can improve and we very much believe in him and he very much believes in us".

SA "The players have lots to thank the mgr for. The way we've developed & from personal experience for the way my Celtic career is now going

SA "He (BR) gave me s'thing to work for & let me play my best position. He's done that with many players & we look a completely diff team"

 

He's not half bad is he......

I registered on here when I heard the rumours he was in the running for this job. I'm a Liverpool fan who moved to the East End of Glasgow a few years back, and I just couldn't have wished for him to go to a better club after he left Liverpool. I was absolutely bowled over by the passion of the clubs fan base and the general culture of it, and I saw many similarities with Liverpool.

I was desperate to see him as Celtic boss. Like many other reds fans, I was gutted the way it ended for him at Anfield. For sure, with Klopp available, I think it was the right decision to part ways but primarily due to the fact that the splits at the club were irredeemable, the transfer committee screwed many things up and this severely hindered Brendan. In all honesty, Brendan didn't help by buying Benteke, but this was all part of an existential crisis he was having at the club thanks to many factors that weren't in his control - when you're managing a club like Liverpool and there have been * ups beyond your control, the room for maneuver is severely restricted and the Benteke signing seemed a desperate last roll of the dice, with Brendan almost scrapping the philosophies and tactics that had brought him to Liverpool.

The cracks had become too wide, and I felt sorry for the man. I was furious at the club and the transfer committee, who, shamefully, were still employed and weren't given the heave (for example, in 2013, Brendan asked for a sweeper keeper and was given Simon Mignolet - a hunk of crap that is the complete antithesis of a sweeper keeper - these terrible decisions would come and bite the club massively in the * come 2014 when Suarez was sold and there was barely much talent to rely upon. Whose decision was that and why weren't they let go?). That job has broken many excellent managers and as ever, I believe its a systematic problem rather than a managerial one (certainly if you look at Rafa's case too).

When I watch Celtic, I'm delighted to see the old Brendan back to his usual self. The sullen demeanour of the last stressful days at Liverpool is gone, and the proactive, confident manager that transformed Swansea (all that work being dismantled as we speak) and came closest to giving us our first league title in over two decades is back.

It is the ability to improve players though that is very exciting at Celtic. He has restructured Liverpool's youth system to the point that many are now seeing game time, and hired the right coaches which have emphasised technically sophisticated footballers. I'm excited to see how he does with Celtic's youngsters - for a club that gave the Lisbon Lions and Quality Street Gang, it's about time there was a manager who is deadly serious about player development again. With Brendan's guidance, I think Celtic can drag youth development into the 21st century and once again produce a strong backbone of local talent and set an incredibly high benchmark in Scotland. The standards need to improve and Brendan expects the highest standards (see his no bullshitting authoritative stance on diet and fitness the last week) - he's not interested in just merely being the best talent provider in Scotland, but in Europe (such was his travels and education on the continent learning the very best methods from abroad). With his proven coaching expertise at a youth level, he knows exactly what is provided to develop top class talent. And many youngsters in the game today can bless Brendan for the education and coaching he has given. It bodes well for the Celtic youth academy.

He wasn't given the best Celtic squad when he arrived - indeed, I think Lennon, Strachan and O Neill prior had stronger squads - but its about building a great squad and the exciting thing is, this is just the start of it. His emphasis on youth development, player development, and an obvious shrewd eye for talent in the transfer market (persuading Dembele to join over much wealthier offers from Tottenham for example is nothing short of genius) gives confidence that the future is very bright for the club.

More importantly, he doesn't just merely concern himself with what quality is on the football field. I think more than any manager in Celtic's recent history, he has a great authority on the structure of a top functioning football club, and as I referenced, that comes with great knowledge on everything from the seniors to the youth levels. Such is his ability and his expansive view towards management, I believe he will leave a legacy and structure at the club that continues when he has left.

It isn't just the present that Rodgers is preoccupied with, he always has an eye on the future. It's important for any aspirational club to have a vision for the future and with Brendan, Celtic have that manager to suit the supporters ambitions. And I say it as a Liverpool fan and now a close follower of Celtic, thank * the other names touted for the job in the summer didn't get it.

All that, and I haven't even mentioned the brilliant attacking football that he is providing....

 

Great post @MattD

 

outstanding post .is that you brendan

 

The point about Brendan being hampered by an idiotic transfer committee towards the end of his time there is spot on and something I was saying long before he was even thought of as a Celtic manager.

He certainly seemed a different person towards the end and as Matt so rightly says he really seems relaxed and back on the ball and man are we reaping the benefits