Brendan Fraudgers!

Loved the way he said we could have won by 6 and he told his team that after

 

No.

The man is *.

 

He's the daddy !

 

* love him

 

BR: "We have played well in a lot of games but, of course, there was a big focus on this game."

BR: "To play at that level, have that tactical idea & to see Scottish players play with that quality & understanding was pleasing. "


BR: "We should have scored more, but how we defended and how we pressed, it was a wonderful demonstration of football."

BR: "Over the course of the 16 months we have been here, what I have been pleased with is the mentality in the big games."

BR: "When you come away to a place like this, you have to show you are a big team & play like a big team & they did that this evening."

BR: "A lot of times up here, everyone talks about the ease of which Celtic win, but you have to give credit to our players."

BR: "They have the courage to go into positions which maybe other teams don’t take and accept the ball, and that can drag teams about."

BR: "When you play to that speed and that quality, it’s very hard sometimes to get there."

BR: "That’s why I always say when you have control of the ball and can dominate the game, then you can have opportunities to score."

BR: "Tonight was about Celtic and Celtic’s quality as opposed to what Aberdeen didn’t do."

BR on @MDembele_10: "He got his goals and he is still working on his fitness."

BR: "But I’m at the stage now when I look at him and Griff, whatever game I want to play them in, they are ready."

BR: "@Leighgriff09 has run himself into the ground & been brilliant. It was nice for him to come out & have that rest for 80-odd minutes."

BR: "Important when you have so many games that you can put another player in and he can contribute, and Moussa was outstanding tonight.”

BR on @kierantierney1: "“He’s an incredible talent - his determination, will and desire.”

BR: "Playing slightly higher up allowed him to get in there and his finish was brilliant

BR: "And his run and cross for the (second) goal was sensational really."

BR: "A big talent and you should be proud of him."


BRENDAN Rodgers heaped praise on his players after they outclassed Aberdeen 3-0 tonight in a sensational showing at Pittodrie to move three points clear at the top of the table and extend their domestic unbeaten run to 61 matches.

First-half goals from Kieran Tierney and Moussa Dembele put the Scottish treble-winners in charge and Dembele added a second after the break as the Hoops maintained their dominance of the contest until the final whistle.

Asked if it was his team’s best performance of the season, the manager, speaking after the game, said: "We have played well in a lot of games but, of course, there was a big focus on this game.

“To play at that level and that tactical idea of the game and to see Scottish players play with that quality and understanding was pleasing. We should have scored more but how we defended and how we pressed, it was a wonderful demonstration of football.

“Over the course of my time here, the 16 months we have been here, what I have been pleased with is the mentality in the big games. Listen, every game for Celtic is a big game, but when you come away to a place like this, you have to show you are a big team and play like a big team and I thought they did that this evening.

“I hear a lot of that at times up here, everyone talks about the ease of which Celtic win, but you have to give credit to our players. They have the courage to go into positions which maybe other teams don’t take and accept the ball and that can drag teams about. When you play to that speed and that quality, it’s very hard sometimes to get there. That’s why I always say when you have control of the ball and can dominate the game, then you can have opportunities to score.

“I don’t think it was necessarily what Aberdeen didn’t do as Derek has done a brilliant job here. He has got a team really motivated and they have had 10 days to prepare and do everything right to play.

“We played the system up to an hour we wanted to play very well and if you do that it’s very difficult to play against, and from that we went into a different shape and saw out the game. Tonight was about Celtic and Celtic’s quality as opposed to what Aberdeen didn’t do.”

Fresh from his late double in the 4-2 League Cup semi-final win over Hibernian on Saturday, Dembele now has four goals in two games as he continues his comeback from injury, and the Hoops boss was delighted with his performance.

“He got his goals and he is still working on his fitness, but I’m at the stage now when I look at him and Griff, whatever game I want to play them in, they are ready,” he said. “Griff has run himself into the ground and been brilliant. It was good for him to come out and have that rest for 80-odd minute, and it’s important when you have so many games that you can put another player in and he can contribute and Moussa was outstanding tonight.”

Not only did Tierney open the scoring with a wonderful finish from an acute angle, he also supplied Dembele for Celtic’s second of the evening with a sublime run and cross. Overall, once again, the Scotland internationalist was exceptional.

“He’s an incredible talent, and he has determination, will and desire,” said the Irishman. “He was playing in a slightly different position tonight for the first 65 minutes, and playing slightly higher up allowed him to get in there and his finish was brilliant, and his run and cross for the (second) goal was sensational really. He puts in on a plate for Moussa to finish. He’s a big talent, you should be proud of him and hopefully for Scotland he can play left-back and do more damage like he is doing for Celtic.”

 

What a selection/formation!
What a performance!
What a time to support the hoops!

Just feel they were above any form of criticism tonight.
It was just a pleasure to watch

Keep up the good work please bhoys

 

Genius.

 

Much, much better tonight from the manager. Recovered from recent mistakes in his team selections. Great to watch.

 

The * are you on about?

 

Credit where it's due. We were exceptional tonight.

 

I'll ask again - the * are you on about?

What recent mistakes in his team selection?

 

The weekend shocking stuff.

 

Try harder

 

Said it in the match thread his tactics were spot on tonight. McIness had 10days extra to prepare his side like a Cup Final.. prepared for 4-2-3-1 and probably the threat of Sinclair, Roberts & Griffiths. Playing two up to press our CBs..

BR plays 3-4-2-1 an extra man in midfield and rapid wing backs playing high.. by the time McInnes knew what was going on we'd won the game. He looked a beaten man after the first 30mins scribbling in his notebook with a perplexed look on his face..

I enjoyed BRs tactical masterclass as much as the performance.

Tough week that was and we've come through it well enough..

Sent from my HTC Desire 530 using Tapatalk

 

Tierney further forward and McGregor inside destroyed them. They didn't have a clue what was happening.

 

BRENDAN Rodgers tells the story of his Road To Paradise is his autobiography, which is published this weekend. And the Celtic manager will also be in conversation with TV broadcaster and personality and fellow countryman, Eamonn Holmes, in two special events in Glasgow (Friday) on Belfast (Wednesday, November 1).

The book charts the manager’s journey from his childhood in the village of Carnlough on the Antrim coast through to becoming manager of the team he has always supported and leading them to a historic invincible treble-winning success.

In this exclusive extract from The Road To Paradise, Brendan Rodgers talks about his early football experiences, the influence of his parents, and a letter from a relative to Billy McNeill back in 1987…

‘I always loved playing football. In Carnlough, although there was a senior team, we didn’t have any recognised boys’ teams at that time, but I was always with a ball and played with my friends.

'The leagues were in Ballymena and Larne, so we’d have needed an * or even a group of people to take the initiative and form a team. I can understand that the travel involved, having to go from Carnlough to all these places to play, made it difficult, and the circumstances around going into different areas at that time were restrictive as well.

‘There was maybe a wee idea from others that I had some talent, although I just knew I loved football, so I was always practising and trying to be my best. When we played in the village, there would be a big game in the car park during the summer evenings, when everyone would just descend on it. It would be a twenty versus twenty game.

‘It was mainly older teenagers and men who played, and if you were really young and light, you normally wouldn’t be allowed to join in, but they always let me play because I think they quite enjoyed having me in amongst them. The older boys all wanted to win and they didn’t want a skinny little guy taking them on and showing them up. That was what toughened me up as well. Everything’s more organised now and that bit of spontaneity has been lost from a social perspective. So I got an inkling at that time about my ability. I also played with my own pals, and there were other boys who played who were very good, so there was a real passion for football in Carnlough…

‘I’d been spotted because I’d got into the Northern Ireland schoolboys’ squad, while I also played for Ballymena United in the 1988 Milk Cup, which was, and still remains, a top youth tournament in Northern Ireland. So it was brilliant for me. It was what I always wanted, playing in a team, doing something that I loved and then hoping for the call to tell me Celtic were interested. That was what I was always waiting for as a schoolboy.

‘The Celtic scout for Northern Ireland back then was a guy called Dessy McGuinness, and I’d always ask my dad on the way home from games if Dessy had been there.

'It was only after I became Celtic manager that I discovered my Uncle Kevin had actually written to Billy McNeill back in September 1987, telling him about me and suggesting that Celtic should take a look at me. He was trying to do everything to get me into Celtic, bless him, because he would have loved nothing more than that. Kevin was also a great fan of Big Billy and had hoped to arrange to meet him.

‘Sadly he never got to do that, but he’d mentioned me in the letter and he got a lovely reply from Billy. I didn’t know he’d actually sent that letter, but it is amazing to think that, 30 years on, I became the Celtic manager.

‘There was interest from a few English clubs, however, and at that time it was a schoolboy form I would have signed. My dad didn’t really know a lot about the game. He was brilliant for his energy and his enthusiasm to help me, but with me being the first as well, he probably didn’t understand the dynamics of it all. He was getting advice from various people, and they were telling him, ‘Brendan’s got talent, so let him go around a few of the clubs and then see which one he enjoys best.’

‘My dad was always very supportive in whatever I wanted to do but he would still push me to work hard, to do my best and to train in every which way I could to improve. Sometimes he’d hear of different things. For example, if you ran with weights round your legs you’d get faster and stronger, so that was it. He bought me weights and I would be running for miles with them strapped on my legs. The support I got from him, however, taking me all round the country to play football, was great.

‘There’s no doubt that my mum and dad’s influence as a child growing up is with me to this day, and I hear their voices in many things I do in life. I enjoy the mornings because they were always up early in the morning. We had a big family so there was never time for lying in bed, or sleeping in, so I love the mornings of my life because we were always up early.



BRENDAN Rodgers tells the story of his Road To Paradise is his autobiography, which is published this weekend. And the Celtic manager will also be in conversation with TV broadcaster and personality and fellow countryman, Eamonn Holmes, in two special events in Glasgow (Friday) on Belfast (Wednesday, November 1).

The book charts the manager’s journey from his childhood in the village of Carnlough on the Antrim coast through to becoming manager of the team he has always supported and leading them to a historic invincible treble-winning success.

In this exclusive extract from The Road To Paradise, Brendan Rodgers talks about his early football experiences, the influence of his parents, and a letter from a relative to Billy McNeill back in 1987…

‘I always loved playing football. In Carnlough, although there was a senior team, we didn’t have any recognised boys’ teams at that time, but I was always with a ball and played with my friends.

'The leagues were in Ballymena and Larne, so we’d have needed an * or even a group of people to take the initiative and form a team. I can understand that the travel involved, having to go from Carnlough to all these places to play, made it difficult, and the circumstances around going into different areas at that time were restrictive as well.

‘There was maybe a wee idea from others that I had some talent, although I just knew I loved football, so I was always practising and trying to be my best. When we played in the village, there would be a big game in the car park during the summer evenings, when everyone would just descend on it. It would be a twenty versus twenty game.

‘It was mainly older teenagers and men who played, and if you were really young and light, you normally wouldn’t be allowed to join in, but they always let me play because I think they quite enjoyed having me in amongst them. The older boys all wanted to win and they didn’t want a skinny little guy taking them on and showing them up. That was what toughened me up as well. Everything’s more organised now and that bit of spontaneity has been lost from a social perspective. So I got an inkling at that time about my ability. I also played with my own pals, and there were other boys who played who were very good, so there was a real passion for football in Carnlough…

‘I’d been spotted because I’d got into the Northern Ireland schoolboys’ squad, while I also played for Ballymena United in the 1988 Milk Cup, which was, and still remains, a top youth tournament in Northern Ireland. So it was brilliant for me. It was what I always wanted, playing in a team, doing something that I loved and then hoping for the call to tell me Celtic were interested. That was what I was always waiting for as a schoolboy.

‘The Celtic scout for Northern Ireland back then was a guy called Dessy McGuinness, and I’d always ask my dad on the way home from games if Dessy had been there.

'It was only after I became Celtic manager that I discovered my Uncle Kevin had actually written to Billy McNeill back in September 1987, telling him about me and suggesting that Celtic should take a look at me. He was trying to do everything to get me into Celtic, bless him, because he would have loved nothing more than that. Kevin was also a great fan of Big Billy and had hoped to arrange to meet him.

‘Sadly he never got to do that, but he’d mentioned me in the letter and he got a lovely reply from Billy. I didn’t know he’d actually sent that letter, but it is amazing to think that, 30 years on, I became the Celtic manager.

‘There was interest from a few English clubs, however, and at that time it was a schoolboy form I would have signed. My dad didn’t really know a lot about the game. He was brilliant for his energy and his enthusiasm to help me, but with me being the first as well, he probably didn’t understand the dynamics of it all. He was getting advice from various people, and they were telling him, ‘Brendan’s got talent, so let him go around a few of the clubs and then see which one he enjoys best.’

‘My dad was always very supportive in whatever I wanted to do but he would still push me to work hard, to do my best and to train in every which way I could to improve. Sometimes he’d hear of different things. For example, if you ran with weights round your legs you’d get faster and stronger, so that was it. He bought me weights and I would be running for miles with them strapped on my legs. The support I got from him, however, taking me all round the country to play football, was great.

‘There’s no doubt that my mum and dad’s influence as a child growing up is with me to this day, and I hear their voices in many things I do in life. I enjoy the mornings because they were always up early in the morning. We had a big family so there was never time for lying in bed, or sleeping in, so I love the mornings of my life because we were always up early.

 

I wish I'd dedicated my childhood days to getting up early and doing stuff.

Used to love staying up to 4am on the weekends off school watching * then waking up at 2pm and having crisps for breakfast.