BRENDAN RODGERS has been speaking to Celtic TV ahead of the trip to Austria to prepare for the Champions League qualifying campaign. Here’s what the manager had to say…
“It was important that a lot of the players got a good rest. Not all of them are back as there are some still away on international duty.
“The players had nearly four weeks which is very important. When you play the number of games that we play it’s absolutely critical you come out the battle and have the rest. The players have done that, come back and this is the fittest they’ve come back.
“This is my third pre-season now and, in terms of where they’re at, they’ve come back very fit. In these opening few days they’ve shown a great level of fitness and that helps.
“There’s a beauty of the Champions League phase in that you know you’re into the competitive games fairly quickly and this is now my third experience of that so that’s good.
“The opening period for the season is about qualification but in terms of our objectives, we’re looking to develop our physical and football fitness. That’s still key and the players have come back with a really good base which I’m very happy with.
“We’ll be looking to develop that over the next few weeks so that when the games come we’re at a really good level. The group look fit, they look strong and we’ve got players coming back. I would hope we’ll be in a really good position with the squad.”
Meanwhile this latest edition of The Celtic Star Podcast – A Celtic State of Mind has had numerous listeners reporting back that they’ve been in floods of tears listening to it. It is very special but be prepared for the emotion…Jinky is still magical it seems.
