Brendan Rodgers gave a positive update on the two injury concerns that are the only negatives from a fabulously success pre-season tour in the United States that saw Celtic win all three matches, score four goals in each and humble two of the top sides from the English Premier League.
The next time fans from down the road refer to the Scottish Premiership as a farmers league we’ll all be quick to remind that of Celtic beating Manchester City and thrashing Chelsea this summer.
Those injuries are nevertheless troublesome but Brendan explained that they are not too serious so hopefully both players will be ready for Flag Day at Celtic Park a week today against Kilmarnock.
“Nicolas (Kuhn) was stretching in training and felt a sore back. He probably needs a few days,” the Celtic manager said after the 4-1 win over Chelsea at the Notre Dame Stadium. Kuhn, who was mightily impressive in the win over the English Champions in midweek, scoring a double and getting the assist of the season (it won’t be bettered), was forced to sit out yesterday’s match, with Daizen Maeda and James Forrest starting on the wings and Luis Palma and Mikey Johnston on the bench.
Both would come on to score to rub salt into the Chelsea wounds after both Matt O’Riley and Kyogo had found the back of the net for the Scottish Champions.
Daizen Maeda limped off just before the interval after what looked like a clash of knees but thankfully that was a case of the Celtic coaching staff taking no chances with the Japan international forward.
“Daizen was just a clash of knees and there’s no need to risk anything at this stage of the season. Hopefully he’ll be okay when we get back,” Brendan said, as reported by Scottish Sun.
On Mikey Johnston, he is back in the fold, and the player will now sit down with the manager to see where his future lies, with the likelihood that there will be significant interest in the Republic of Ireland winger after his stand-out loan spell at West Brom in the English Championship earlier this year.
“It was just about Mikey coming back and getting himself fit,” Brendan explained. “Mikey is 25 now and he probably wants to play. We’ll just wait and see. There have been no real discussions yet, it’s just about getting back fit and seeing where it takes us.”
While the Celtic squad looks in great shape and fine form, that does not mean that the manager’s desire to add to the squad over the next month will have been diminished, far from it. Asked if some new arrivals would be arriving before Flag Day Rodgers said: “I hope so.”
He added: “You want to have them in as soon as you possibly can. The current group are working very hard in their own right and we’ll improve the squad over the course of the window.”
READ THIS…Celtic 4-1 Chelsea – Proud and delighted Rodgers as Hoops humble another EPL giant
The best piece of news that the Celtic support could ask for would be for the club and Matt O’Riley to agree on one more season at Celtic for the midfielder. That midfield three of McGregor, Hatate and O’Riley was looking rather special in the intense heat and certainly Chelsea found them too hot to handle.
Asked about developments on the various clubs bidding for O’Riley’s signature, the Celtic manager revealed that there’s been nothing else to report. Good.
“There’s been no change I am aware of. He knows he’s at a massive club. There’s been no change in his attitude or his quality and you can see that in the games,” Brendan said.
READ THIS…Celtic rolls past Chelsea 4-1 in final friendly of U.S. tour, Adam Idah tellingly reacts
Here are the highlights from Chelsea TV…ENJOY!
