BRENDAN RODGERS conducted his usual pre-match press conference today as negotiations continued between Moussa Dembele and the club’s Chief Executive about the player’s future. Whether that will be in Lyon or Glasgow for a little while longer remains to be seen.
There is clearly a dark cloud over Paradise, judging by the mood on social media. Only The Financial Tims are getting excited about the large edge of cash the ‘Big Pedro’ could bring in by Friday.
Only Celtic could bring in a world class manager, who totally adores the club then do just about everything imaginable to p*ss him off!
Brendan started by looking back on the first leg of this Europa League Play-off which ended 1-1 last Thursday. However before getting to that some cheery news on the return of Odsonne Edouard tomorrow night. Brendan confirmed that the young striker, known as French Eddie to the supporters, has returned to training, having born out injured since picking up a knock in the defeat to Hearts.
“He’s back training and looking very good,” Brendan said. He’s been a miss for us as he’s a talent and it’s great to have him back.”
Anyway back to the beginning and Brendan was talking about last week’s first leg.
“We started great but didn’t go on and take advantage of that,” the manager said. “We gave them a little bit of encouragement by giving them the goal,” something Rodgers is determined to ensure does NOT happen tomorrow night.
“It’s important we don’t give away anything defensively, press the game well and then use our quality and speed to hopefully gain an advantage as early as we can. We expect them to be compact, tight and try to make it difficult for us, and it’s important for us to impose our style.”
Rodgers is well aware of the significance that this game has on Celtic’s entire season and maybe beyond. The Champions League exit cost the club £30million, losing out to FK Suduva would cost another £10million and plenty of prestige too. Oh and would probably kill off any incoming transfers and hasten any departures of players that the manager would rather keep.
“It’s an important game,” Brendan stated. “They’re all important. It’s important for us to have European football at least through to Christmas and that’s something we want to do.
“We started out on this European journey on 18 June, and it’s been a long pre-season. We have a great opportunity to finish the job at home and go into a prestigious tournament which is important for us. We aim to finish the job tomorrow.
“It’s an opportunity for all of us to play against really good teams and work against very good managers. It’s a competition we can use our experience and do well in. We were disappointed going out last season, especially playing well at home. The Europa League provides us with an opportunity to play against really good teams and to develop.
“The players are used to playing in these games. We are where we are. We didn’t deserve to progress through to the Champions League and we have to accept that and get on with.
“Even though our performance wasn’t great last week, we got an away goal in European football which is important. We need to get the support behind us and get into what is a very good European competition.”
As always Rodgers is respectful towards the opposition and tomorrow is no different. FK Suduva have been given the same level of scrutiny as any other team coming to play at Celtic Park.
“I think that if there’s one value to how we work, both here in Lennoxtown and outside, it is respect,” Brendan explained.
“This is a team with humility and Suduva are a team we respect. They are champions of their country and they did great over there and the atmosphere was wonderful. We respect them as a team, and we do that with every team we play.
“We gave encouragement to Suduva and they were able to take confidence from that. We hope tomorrow we are tight and super-organised like we normally are, so that we give little or no encouragement.”
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