“I enjoy that challenge of proving people wrong,” Brendan Rodgers

Q: Is that something you’ve looked at, the set-pieces in the last two games against theRangers? We concede from corners and you mentioned the throw-in. Is that something you’ve looked at over the last week?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I think it’s something that we continually do. It’s not just something that we’ll look at specifically for theRangers. We take pride in every element of our game. Offensive, defensive and from all those static positions. The corner in the game at Ibrox, we get done on the second phase of that. The one at Celtic Park, we get done on the first phase. Again, it goes back to the level of concentration, being alert, being alive and switched on. Normally, those set-piece moments, those are the times when you can really be focused because the ball is static. So, you can get into position early, get organised, get concentrated and deal with the situation better.”

Q: Can I ask how Jota is?

Brendan Rodgers: “He’s very philosophical. I had a long chat with him and looking at what the plan will be for him going forward in the different phases of what it looks like. He knows he’s going to get the support. He’s had a difficult couple of years. He’s come back to here. He’s loving being back, but he’s telling you that you need to get to a level of fitness and that was to try and get through this season in the best he could and then have a really strong pre-season. So, sadly, that interrupted that side of it. But, I have to say, he is a very positive young guy and I’m pretty sure he’ll come back from this year a stronger person and player.”

Q: Brendan, it looks like Adam Idah might be leading the line this weekend against theRangers. I just wondered if you could speak tactically about the choice you’ve got between Daizen leading the line and Adam and what they both bring?

Brendan Rodgers:: “I think in terms of Adam, in all fairness, I think if you take away, I think there’s a lot of look on his price tag, isn’t there? So, everyone’s judging on the price tag. If you actually take away the minutes and look at the minutes he’s played and the goals he’s scored, his actual ratio is very good. So, what do you get in both? So, from a tactical level, you get him who can be the platform.

“Listen, I say a striker’s playing the space. I also want him to score. It’s not play the space and have three goals. It’s play the space and if you can get 40 goals, brilliant. And you’ll have the chance to do it, but it’s just, it’s knowing that at times, whenever you’ve got to come short to create space or whether you’ve got to run in behind. I think when you’re playing against high pressing teams, you have to play a lot of forward passes, a lot of vertical balls and knowing that it’s not always going to be perfect. And also playing against man-to-man. So, he can give you that reference point and when he’s big and strong and takes the ball in, he can be unplayable.

“Daizen’s slightly different. Daizen’s a runner. He can take the ball into his feet, set it and go, but he’s more about the space. So, both can play the position. I think it’s the beauty of Daizen. He’s very, very adaptable. And that’s why I’ve always said, he’s a winger and I said, he can play as a striker. And that’s where he’s very adaptable and we’re very lucky because there’s lots of strikers who can’t play in another position. He’s just a really unique player where he can still score goals, he can still create goals playing in two different positions.

“But one’s more a player that’ll set the game up, use his power, allow the game to come to him and then players will run off him. Daizen, then you’re looking to probably find more of the gaps in the space in behind, that would be one of the differences.”

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