Brendan Rodgers praised three of his wingers at today’s media He looked back on the UEFA Champions League match on Wednesday night and ahead to both the game tomorrow against Dundee United at Celtic Park and the return fixture in the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night in Munich…
James Forrest, Brendan remembered, got himself back into the team this time last year and played a massive part in Celtic strong finish to the season that saw the Hoops win both the Scottish Premiership and also the Scottish Cup.
Yang was praised for his tenacity in building his game to at last get some recognition for the effort he invariably puts in every time he is called upon. And against Bayern Munich he certainly made an impact against one of the top teams in World football. The Celtic manager expects that there will be more to come from the South Korean.
Daizen Maeda amazing form and his energy levels are something else with Brendan referring to the UEFA stats that show Daizen as number one in the Champions League for number of sprints. Will Daizen get a rest tomorrow or will he be asked to go again? Probably the former but Brendan was giving nothing away.
Here’s everything that was said at today’s media conference at Lennoxtown, which also featured Adam Idah. We’ll cover than separately…
Q: Brendan, can we just start with injury team news? How’s everyone looking? How’s Paulo Bernardo after coming off against Raith?
Brendan Rodgers: “Paulo will be out for a few weeks. He’s got his ankle in a boot, so he’ll be maybe four or five weeks.”
Q: Is Paulo the only one out?
Brendan Rodgers: “There’s nothing new from the Bayern game. Everyone else available.”
Q: Is this where the strength and depth of your midfield options can really come to the fore?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, well, as you can tell with so many games, it’s needed. Paulo’s obviously done great for us this season. What we’ve tried to do with all the players is try and ensure we keep them fit by rotating and maximising the whole squad. Obviously, sadly, he’s out for a little while. But like you say, we’ve still got good numbers in that position.”
Q: How have the last few days been since that entertaining game on Wednesday?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, it’s been really good. Obviously, our culture here is very positive always. I think it was a great game for everyone the other night. Another step forward in our experiences of that level. I think what was important in that game, I mentioned it before, was that in a two-legged affair, you need to be in the tie. And especially when you’re playing against a team of that level, where you have, especially in the top end of the pitch, you’ve got world stars that can really hurt you. So we had to be smart in the game.
“And I think the players did that really, really well. We were disappointed with the two goals. The second one in particular, it’s a small detail at this level. If you don’t get it right, you’ll get punished. And there were a few other moments maybe where we could have pressed the game. But apart from that, the players’ concentration was good. They were stable in the game. We didn’t give too much away against a really top opponent. So again, we showed that in the main we could defend well.
“Then once we started playing in that last 20-25 minutes, then we caused them problems at the end. So, yeah, we reflect on that. We’ll take that into the game next week. But now we have a really important game against Dundee United.”
