“I understand the consequences,” Brendan Rodgers tells The Celtic Star

Q: The narrative around recruitment seems to just keep being there all the time. Is there a way to maybe close that down, given you still have two months or so until that can be rectified in any way? And is it proving to be a bigger distraction than you imagined it may have been?

Brendan Rodgers: “Listen, I think we all knew what we needed in the summer, and for whatever reason we weren’t able to bring that level in, and timely at the right time. So yeah, I can’t afford to look back. I understand if you’re looking from the outside in, and if you’re a supporter, of course, you would do that, and that would be a real sense of frustration. But as a coach and manager, we knew what we had to do, we weren’t able to do it, and now we live with that consequence.

“But we have to find a way to win games, and I’m relentlessly looking at solutions, and because obviously the guys, when they come in, it wasn’t in pre-season, so you’re now having to look at things within games with very little coaching time. Because you’re playing over the weekend, and you get mid-week games, and you’re doing a lot of your coaching on video, and analysing that way. So yeah, I understand it, but on a personal level, I can only really focus with my coaches on the players that are here, and the team that’s here, and look to stand up and rise to the challenge.”

Q: When you say solutions, how do you go about trying to find them short-term, given what you’ve just said, and given again what you have at your disposal?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, it’s something that we constantly look at and think about, in terms of personnel and team shape. Like you’ve seen on Sunday, we’re obviously down in the game, so we change the system, we have two strikers, two wingers on the sides, two attacking eights in midfield. So yes, that’s something that you’re having to think about, obviously, much more than if you’ve got your squad settled and in place.”

Q: Are we likely to see you experiment more, Brendan, going forward tomorrow night, in terms of formation and personnel, trying to get the team that clicks on the pitch?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I think that’s what I have to do, but at the same time, you’re having to find some level of stability as well. I think we’ve obviously had important players injured as well, which makes a difference to our level. But yeah, it’s certainly something, stability is important, and that hopefully allows you to find the tempo and the speed in the game that you actually want, and to deliver the best performance that you can. But yeah, I will never stop. I’m so motivated to try and find the solutions to it, and find a way, and use my experience in order to help us get there.”

Q: Given what happened on Sunday, in terms of the result, your comments, Callum McGregor as well, saying that you’re too easy to play against. Have you had to speak to the players? What have you said to the players ahead of this game tomorrow night?

Brendan Rodgers: “We analyse the sections of the game for another day, but it’s purely based around principles and what our principles are, and the type of team that when we’re at our best, what it looks like. And that running mentality, because before you think of talent, you have to head the ball, you have to run, you have to press, you have to do all these things before then you’re decision making in the game. So that needs to be better. All the things that aren’t about talent is what we need to be better at, and then from that you should then show your talent, and that’s what we reinforce.”

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