BRENDAN RODGERS was back at Lennoxtown today and gave his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s flag day against newly promoted Livingston.
The manager was relaxed and still delighted after his side negotiated a safe passage through to the third qualifying round in the Champions League last night in Norway.
Here’s a flavour of what the manager had to say…
????️???? #FlagDay #CELLIV pic.twitter.com/jz6g6NY8k6
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 2, 2018
????️ BR: "It’s our number one competition. Obviously the competition starts early up here but the Premiership is very important for us so it’s nice to have our first game at home. We’re preparing well to hopefully perform well." #CELLIV
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 2, 2018
????️ BR: "It’s a wonderful league. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being up here. It’ll be a very competitive league again like it’s been the two years we’ve been here but it’s not just about defending the title for us, we have to win it." #CELLIV
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 2, 2018
????️ BR: "We are clearly focused on winning as many games as we possibly can. We want to develop the work that we’ve already put in. When you work with individuals and teams there’s always room for improvement and we aim to improve in every facet of our game." #CELLIV
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 2, 2018
????️ BR: "@Leighgriff09 will be back in the squad and @SimunovicJozo will be available again. That’s two players who are important for us and will add to the squad."
More from Brendan Rodgers ahead of #CELLIV online soon.
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 2, 2018
Meanwhile one player who will not be involved at the weekend is Lewis Morgan, who is going to be out for a few weeks yet.
The winger though is probably the best placed person at Celtic to give a low down on Saturday’s opponents as he faced them several times last season while playing for St Mirren in the Championship.
Lewis inspired Saints to automatic promotion as Champions and Livingston came through the play-offs, beating Dundee United then Partick Thistle to win their Premiership place.
The Celtic winger gave a low down on Livingston to the guys at the Celtic View.
“If you looked at Livingston 12 months ago, people may have thought they didn’t have the right to be up there but they proved them wrong,” Morgan said.
“At St Mirren, we always had tough games against them. They played the ball long, but the new manager coming in will have his own ideas and I’m not sure what his style of play will be so, again, it’s a tough one to gauge how they’ll do, and there will also be a further turnover in players.
“They have young, exciting players in the side, and you saw in the Partick Thistle matches in the play-offs that they’re hard to play against and have a threat in behind. They’re a bit of an unknown to everyone in the Premiership and they’ll be an unknown to me as well with a new manager coming in.
“They may not have the resources of St Mirren, but they were excellent last year and deserved all of their plaudits for what they achieved.”
