Brendan Rodgers – Media Conference ahead of Celtic’s trip to Fir Park

The Celtic Star

·25 Oktober 2024

Brendan Rodgers – Media Conference ahead of Celtic’s trip to Fir Park

Brendan Rodgers spoke to the media today ahead of the Scottish Premiership match at Fir Park on Sunday afternoon…

Celtic FC coach Brendan Rodgers looks on before the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD3 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

The Celtic manager previewed that game, giving a positive injury update of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Greg Taylor, defended Arne Engels and praised his central defensive partnership of Auston Trusty and Liam Scales for their outstanding performances in Bergamo against Atalanta in the Champions League. The Celtic manager also paid his respects to Celtic legend Tommy Callaghan who sadly passed away earlier today…

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Celtic FC team line up during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Q: Brendan, how’s the squad looking heading into Sunday?

Brendan Rodgers: “We’ve got Cam (Carter-Vickers) back training with the squad, which is good news. Greg Taylor as well. So we’ve got one more day to go and then we’ll see how they are, but they hopefully will be involved in the game.”

Q: The fact that you’ve got the options there, the defence showing what they can do on Wednesday, is that quite good, knowing that you’re not in a rush to get players back onto the pitch?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, well, we like them to be available. I think that’s what’s important. So it gives us options, which is what you want as a coach. But yes, I think obviously the team defensively was outstanding the other night, but to have those two guys back, who are very important players for us, will be good.”

Brendan Rodgers salutes the crowd at the end of UEFA Champions League 2024/25 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024.. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Q: What kind of challenge are you expecting from Motherwell? Because they made it tough for you last season. I think it was one draw and then the two wins that were injury-time goals for yourselves.

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I think it’s always been a tough place to go. I always really enjoy going there. It’s always a really good atmosphere. We bring a great support behind the goals. So, yes, they’re always tough games. Stuart (Kettlewell) has his team set up well. They go between, obviously a back five and then whether they play two strikers up front and three midfield or a sort of 3-4-3 structure. It can just depend. The last few weeks, it’s been more 5-3-2.

Brendan Rodgers: “So, we’ll expect a team that will be well organised. Stuart organises his teams very, very well, very organised, very committed. They’ll be disappointed with the last result. So, they want to bounce back from that. And for us, we know what we need after a Champions League game. It’s a big energy, a big attitude and continue with a great start to the season for us.”

Q: You obviously had those two games last season, where you had last-minute goals to get you the wins. I think your first spell as well, you had to go the distance a couple of times. As much as those are thrilling, enjoyable moments when they happen, I suppose going there on Sunday, perhaps a less stress-free game over there?

Brendan Rodgers: “If you can only predict and forecast, it would be great. Everyone would love to be comfortable in the game, but sometimes it’s not like that. So, teams will give everything to get the result. But what hopefully that tells you is, that this is a team with perseverance and persistence and can keep going. So, ultimately, you have to do what it takes to get the result. And we always have that mentality that we can.”

Celtic FC players applaud the fans following the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Q: Are they some of the more satisfying occasions? Because it does show that the set-up you’ve got, the players stick to it and they go right to the final whistle to get it.

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, especially some of those games last season. I think in some of the games when we were searching for that late win, I think Matt scored a great goal at the back post. The ball could have been easily just pumped forward and into the mix, but we kept that calmness and then made a great cross in the half-space ago we got the winner. And it was everything that we would want. So, yes, scoring a late win away from home is always really nice and it’s great for the supporters. But, of course, whichever way it comes, you just want to win.”

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Adam Idah competes for the ball with Isak Hien during the UEFA Champions League match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Q: Brendan, what pleased you most about the performance the other night in Italy?

Brendan Rodgers: “I think that we’re a team that normally, obviously domestically and a lot of times we play, and especially at home, we’ll want to take the game by the scruff of the neck and impose our way of working in the game. But you know when you come up against superior teams away from home and that you’re going to have to be in difficult situations where you’re not going to have the running of the game and in that there, you need a high level of concentration.

“That was probably the biggest part that really pleased me, is that concentration level right to the very end against, like I said, a team from a superior league and a top, top team. We showed that we could defend well and be compact and tight and all the things that we spoke about before. But we showed a great physicality in the game as well to match their physicality and right to the very end, right to the 94th minute. So, there were so many pleasing things.

Alex Valle competes for the ball with Marten De Roon during the UEFA Champions League match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

“I think that it’s great, it was a game where the players can take huge confidence, knowing that we can play some brilliant football, some fast football, score many goals, but to keep a clean sheet and play how we did out there, not only does it galvanise the players and their confidence and when those moments come, because they’ll come again, especially in the Champions League.

“It will happen in the league sometimes as well, but certainly in the Champions League, you’re going to have to go through spells like that. We now know that we can do that. It’s also great for the supporters. You know, the supporters, as much as the football is great and intense and everything and blah, blah, blah, they also need to know that your team can have a bit of dig, a bit of grit and determination and I think we’ve seen that the other night against a top team.”

Brendan Rodgers looks on during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Q: You’ll take this position, won’t you? You’re off to four points after three games.

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, very much so. I think people say to you, you’ve got a home game against Bratislava and then away Borussia Dortmund and away to Atalanta to have four points out of that. You would be very, very pleased.”

Q: Just generally, in terms of this week, very good results for all Scottish teams in Europe, an indication that perhaps it’s not as bad as some people think.

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, what do you guys think? Listen, it’s waves, isn’t it? You’re going to be judged at the end. I think you’re going to have spells like you say, Rangers had a good result last night, Hearts. So, it happens sometimes as well, but what’s also understanding is that sometimes for the Scottish teams, it takes a little bit of time to get into it as well. I think over the likes of ourselves, we jump from our domestic league, which is a fantastic league, into the Champions League, which is the very highest level.”

Daizen Maeda of Celtic FC is pressured by Berat Djimsiti of Atalanta BC during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD3 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

“So, that jump is a huge jump. With the greatest respect, we’re not playing that every week. It’s not like a Premier League team that has that, where you’re playing it every week and you get that level and speed and intensity in the game. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to then adjust to it. But, I think all you can do, and listen, all you can do is look after your own club and be the very best that you can be. And where we sit after the three games, I’m more than happy with, knowing that we’ll improve as we go along.”

Q: Is recovery the important bit of this last couple of days, given you probably have to do a lot more running?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I just think it’s the intensity level of that. It’s why we try to play at the level we do every week, so there’s not so much a big change. Our game domestically is to impose ourselves right from the very beginning, to play as fast as we can and directly as we can, and then take that intent to the next level. But it is a step up, so, of course, after games like that, physically and mentally, there’s a recovery needed, of course. But the players are in a really good place today. They feel like footballers today, which is great. After Dortmund, it was a tough, tough one, but they’ve also shown great courage and they’ve shown that they can then go on, because that was a big ask, going out to Atalanta on the back end of your last away game, to produce that performance really shows the togetherness of the team and the mentality of the squad.”

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Q: So, I suppose you learn a lot more, than maybe from a domestic game, in the sense you see Nicolas Kuhn doing jobs you don’t normally expect him to do. It’s a good learning curve for everyone.

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, listen, I think a lot of our game domestically is you’re very much on the front foot and then you’re defending is very much in a counter-pressing format, because you’re getting the ball back, you’re spending a long time with the ball, then you get it back quickly and you’re counter-pressing, and then you’re going again. Going to Europe, of course, you then happen to be tactically a little bit more cuter, because you’re spending less time with the ball at times. And also, you know that the opponent’s level can hurt you if you’re out of position. So, it’s what’s asked of wingers here anyway, but of course, it’s highlighted even more when you get to that level. You have to do the work, you have to close spaces, you’ve got to press, you’ve got to run back, and then you can enjoy the ball.”

Kyogo Furuhashi competes for the ball with Ederson during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Q: You said after the Dortmund game that you would learn from this. Is that the thing that satisfies you the most, is that the team did take on board the messages, and the distances between each other were perfect. I mean, you seem to have really, you know, taken on board what had to be done to compete at that level.

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I just think it was more about just being concentrated. I think Dortmund, believe it or not, had the same idea. But when you lose the goal so quickly, and you can then end up getting frazzled, and then you have that quality, then everything, then the distances then become much greater. Like you say, the press isn’t quite right, the gaps start to open up, and then it becomes a little bit more open than what you would like it.

Our game is all based on connection. When we haven’t got the ball, and when we have got the ball, lots of connections. But defensively, you had to be clear in our thinking, and that was the great learning from that Dortmund, is that you know, if you concede, OK, it can happen at the level, but don’t lose your concentration and don’t lose your commitment in what you’re doing.

Matteo Ruggeri is challenged by James Forrest during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

“Because if you go on your own, top teams will pick you off. And that was why I expected it, because of the group, the group is such an honest group, the group that wants to learn, but then to take it to that level and perform as they did, and be very well organised and compounded, it’s a huge testament to them and their courage. Because like I said, you have that Dortmund game, you’re now going away to an opponent equally as dangerous, if not more. And to produce that level was great for the players. So, it shows you that they want to learn.”

Auston Trusty applauds the fans at full-time Atalanta v Celtic, UEFA Champions League, Group Stage, , Gewiss Stadium, Bergamo, Italy, 23 October 2024. Photo Marco Canoniero, Shutterstock

Q: How impressed were you with Auston Trusty’s performance, in terms of just him establishing himself as a Celtic player?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I thought it was immense in the game. I thought him and Scales both were. But Scales I’ve seen now for a long time, one of his great superpowers is defending the box. He’s great at defending, and when it comes in, he puts his head on it.

Ademola Lookman is tacked by Auston Trusty of Celtic FC during the UEFA Champions League 2024/2025 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC at Gewiss Stadium on October 23, 2024.. Photo Roberto Tommasini

“For Auston, yeah, big admiration, especially since he’s come in. He’s a player that’s been playing on the wrong side, virtually all his time, but he’s just got on with it and coped with it. But then you see one of the big reasons why we did bring him in, his ability to leap and defend in the box, he’s really powerful with his head. But also his speed, there were a couple of recovery runs in behind, he’s super quick and he got there on a couple of occasions. So, I was so, so pleased for him. Because sometimes you need a big performance like that at the big clubs to really show your value. But, yeah, he’s settled in really, really well and I’m really pleased for him.”

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Q: I guess it gives you that competition at the back. I know Cameron’s coming back in the future, but you’ve always talked about having competition in all places, and you’ve got a guy playing on that stage.

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I think every player has shown that they can play at a really high level, and that’s what you want. You’re not going to go through the whole season just with 11 players. I think the role players are very, very important and we’ve seen that the other night, players coming off the bench. I think the centre-half position is a position where I always say it’s about the two rather than just one. It’s always about the balance of the two centre-halves. But both those guys, Scalesy and Auston, have been great, and none more so than the other night. But it’s good to have good players back available.”

Celtic v Slovan Bratislava – UEFA Champions League – Kasper Schmeichel in discussion with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales during the match at Celtic Park on September 18, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

Q: It does give you that ability to perhaps not rush Cameron back quite so quickly?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, and also we’ve got players, like Scalesy, playing a lot of games internationally as well. He’s been so robust. He’s been absolutely fantastic. And since he’s got into the team, his availability has been not quite 100 per cent, but he’s been virtually up there. And you think he’s travelling away playing international games, having played two 90 minutes, coming back and then playing. So, from time to time, some players just need to come out, have a breather, and then have a good level to come in and take his place. That’s nice to have that option.”

Q: You don’t need to be reminded of the standards in the Champions League, but Dortmund lost five goals in one half as well. In terms of perspective, was there any comfort or at least context to be taken from that, given what happened?

Brendan Rodgers: “No, I think I was watching the game, and I know it’s possible. Obviously, when I come in here after we lose to Dortmund and people talk about learning and perspective and everything else, then they think you’re talking rubbish because you’ve lost 7-1. And it’s not nice, of course. But I understand the level. I understand the quality.

“And, like you say, Dortmund, who we’ve seen and played against us really, really well, everything they hit went in. But it’s also a level where they lost five goals in a half as well. So, thankfully, here on this side, we have perspective. I see the players every day. I see the learning. And yes, there was a big learning from that. And hopefully, we take that through the rest of the competition.”

Kyogo Furuhashi, Liam Scales and James Forrest salute the crowd after the UEFA Champions League match between Atalanta BC and Celtic FC on October 23, 2024 (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Q: You were backs against the wall for long periods against Atalanta, but especially in the last 10 minutes, a few chances came for Celtic. Is the next stage of learning perhaps taken now and snatching a goal near the end?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, it’s just, I think it’s having that wee bit of composure at the level as well. These are games where you have to have that belief to play as well. We had a couple of wee moments, didn’t we, going into that last period, where it looked like it could be the absolute perfect performance. We defended well and then on the counter-attack, you get your goals. It didn’t quite just drop for us, but that is the next stage.

“But also, a game against Atalanta looks totally different to some other games. If you look at the number of times in the first half, you make a knock-back and a through pass and sequence, then all of a sudden, you’re through on their goal. That doesn’t happen a lot in football. Normally, you’ve got to go through various zones and lots of bodies behind the ball. But against their man-to-man, once you broke through it two or three times, you were in. So, it’s just having that, making maybe some more of the right decisions in those moments, can definitely help us, for sure. But I was really pleased with what I’ve seen in the game, in terms of the concentration mentality. And I know that confidence will always grow with the ball the more opportunities you’re in that tournament, and you get the experience of it.”

Q: Can I just ask what the situation is with Cameron? Is he still assessing his reaction to training?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, certainly whilst we were away, it was the best he’d felt. So, he’s obviously done some training back here. We’re just being careful and listening to him, really, to not want to force it, really, if it’s not right. But he looked very good today, and he’s been that throughout this week. So, fingers crossed, he comes through tomorrow okay, and then he can be involved in the squad.”

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Q: Do you hope the game in midweek can be like a watershed for Celtic on trips into Europe? People will look back, fans will look back, and that’ll be the moment when trips into Europe will be going the way Celtic fans hope they will.

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, let’s hope so. It was a very good performance. I was so happy for the supporters, because I’m sure after the Dortmund game, there’s a wee bit of trepidation. You’re playing against a top team who, across Europe, were on the top goalscorers in all the top leagues. But they’re going to have real pride in the team, and that’s what I’m saying. Not just for us as a coaching and managing staff, the players themselves, but for the supporters. They know that this team can now do that. There is a graft there, there is a heart, there is a desire and an organisation that can help us going forward. And that was my primary objective when I said when I came back, clearly domestically we have to do our work, but can we build something in Europe that can allow us to progress and be better?”

Ademola Lookman competes for the ball with Arne Engels during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 match between Atalanta BC and Celtic at Stadio di Bergamo on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Q: Social media is not perhaps the best place to go looking for reactions sometimes, but after the game was a bit of a lukewarm reaction at Arne Engels and just his last couple of performances, does it surprise you that folk are still adjusting to how you set it, and they’ve perhaps come to conclusions?

Brendan Rodgers: “It doesn’t surprise me, no. It doesn’t, it really doesn’t. But it doesn’t really matter. I think everyone, there are critics in the game and people have an opinion. You have to respect that. For me, we brought a young player in who’s nowhere near the finished article. I think sometimes there’s pressure around him and that might feel that you’re buying someone who’s the finished article. He’s not.

“He came in here as a 20-year-old player who’s got great potential and it’s my job here and I’m with the staff to develop that. He’s coming from, I said to him, you’re coming from playing one game a week, where that’s a holiday in my book, to come and play in a big club with big pressure and big expectations and you’ll feel it. And sometimes you’ll play and you’ll be playing a lot of games and sometimes you come out to recover.

“So, it’s all natural. We had the same with Nicholas Kuhn. We’ve had probably the same with Callum McGregor over many years. So, it’s football. And listen, I understand that people make a judgment and an opinion, but I’m so, so happy he chose to come here. He’s shown more than enough in this short period of time that he’s going to be a fantastic player for us.”

Q: Is he one as well in midweek who showed his concentration on the tactical side of the game just to support McGregor?

Brendan Rodgers: “He had a massive job to do on Ademola Lookman. And that was one of the key aspects of his job. And that’s what his strength is. His strength is his running power. And as I said, he’s a different player to what Matt O’Riley was, but it was for that very reason we brought him in with that power and that running ability that he has to cover the ground, do the dirty stuff. And like I said, he had a specific job on that side against Ademola, who is an absolutely brilliant young player. And I thought he did that job really, really well. And sometimes you have to sacrifice yourself for the team and he’s shown that since the first day he arrived, that that’s what he does and how he plays the game.”

Tommy Callaghan, RIP. Image Celtic FC

Q: Can I just ask you about Tommy Callaghan’s passing?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I had a message this morning from young Tommy, the son, to say his dad had passed away. So, I think all our thoughts and condolences are with Tommy. I think any player that’s been signed twice by Jock Steen tells you how good a player he was. And it’s always sad. I bumped into Tommy only a few weeks back and yeah, sad day, but a real legend of the club. And all our thoughts are with his family.”