Liam Scales insists the Celtic squad remain united and unfazed by Brendan Rodgers’ Honda Civic comment despite the side’s abysmal 2-0 defeat to Dundee at Dens Park on Sunday…
The defender is confident in the manager’s ability to turn things around, noting that some of the newer arrivals may simply need more time to find their rhythm.
Rodgers’ post-match remarks at Dens Park over the weekend sparked plenty of talk, but Scales has dismissed any suggestions that it will have an impact on the dressing room. Speaking via The Herald, Scales said: “To be fair I didn’t even know about it so there wasn’t really a reaction in the dressing room. It was probably more outside than inside, in terms of the reaction.”
The Celtic defender continued: “I didn’t notice anything different in how we’ve been leading up to this game against Sturm Graz. Obviously there was disappointment about losing the game but there wasn’t any bad blood at all. The manager knows we’re all good players.”
Scales added: “We all know that there’s really good quality in the dressing room. We get that message day to day. We all know there’s good quality there. The coaches know, the manager knows. He shows that day in day out on the training ground. He gives us confidence. There’s no real issues there.”
The 27 year-old believes Celtic will find their form again, while acknowledging that some players are still adjusting to the intensity and expectations of playing at the Scottish champions.
He said: “Maybe looking from the outside players might think that coming to Celtic and playing is easy and you’re going to win every week. You’re going to win trophies. But it’s not like that.
“You play against really good teams every week, tough teams to break down, teams that can hurt you in different ways. I think that’s probably what’s happened in a sense. Maybe some players who aren’t used to the league and the level of the opposition, maybe they expect it to be different.”
“But they’ll learn,” he continued. “They probably have learned a lot over the last few weeks and it’s now time for everyone, not just the new lads, everyone to really up our game and take our game to the next level. Because there’s enough experience in the dressing room and there’s enough players with experience in the league to pull us through games like that and win games like that.
“So it can’t be all down to new players not bedding in as quickly as maybe people want them to because there’s still so much experience around. It’s a collective thing at the moment.”
Here’s Liam Scales speaking to the broadcast media and The Celtic Star at Celtic Park yesterday afternoon.
Conor Spence
Celtic in the Thirties in Two Volumes – Brilliantly researched and written by Matt Corr. An unmissable addition to any Celtic bookshelf. Click on the image below to order your copies…
