Rodgers Comments on Celtic's Victory over Lisbon

Brendan Rodgers delivered some telling comments after watching Celtic beat Sporting Lisbon 2-0 in Faro last night.

It was an impressive display from a makeshift side, again demonstrating Rodgers’ ability to put a plan together and deliver the teamwork and tactics to produce a positive result.

If Michael Nicholson could produce the same level of support and backing for the manager Celtic fans would be in a much happier frame of mind- with at least 10,000 more tickets sold for Saturday’s friendly at home to Newcastle.

Clearly there is deep distrust and a stand-off between the manager and the club Executives despite Celtic being at an important crossroads.

Rodgers has laid the groundwork to take the club to a new level in Europe but it seems that that progress has kicked in the Rainy Day Committee in the Celtic boardroom that are more comfortable enjoying Thursday night’s in the Europa League which is less demanding but brings in decent money from UEFA.

Since the turn of the year Rodgers has lost Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn from his forward line- to compensate for that the club is well down the road to signing a striker from Japan that has scored twice in 1,085 minutes of J-League action this year.

Rodgers makes it clear that Shin Yamada has been identified and brought to Celtic by un-named scouts, playing the striker to justify his signing doesn’t appear to be any sort of priority for the manager who doesn’t seem upset at speculation linking Yang Hyun-jun, Luis Palma and Kwon Hyeok-kyu with summer exits.

Those three projects were part of the job lot of signings that Rodgers was presented with in 2023 by Mark Lawwell.

The Daily Record reports Rodgers saying

Shin Yamada and strikers

He’ll have a medical over the next couple of days and we’ll have a look at him.

We’ve lost a lot of goals so we need to replace that. Hopefully this can be one of a number of players we can bring in that aspect. He’s got intensity and work rate. It’s something the scouts have seen.

In terms of the club, we will bring in players to develop and players for now. Even though he’s a bit older, he’s probably one of those that can give us that intensity and pressure.

I need to look and see him when he comes in and hopefully he can do well. The idea was to bring him in and assess him. He’s a strong boy – but we’d want to add to our front line also.

Odsonne Edouard and big name signing targets

I’m not worried so much about a big name. It’s about the collective of the team.

Big names don’t always give you want you need. This team needs hunger, goals and work rate and intensity. Big names don’t always give you that. It’s about big players.

I just want players who are hungry to learn but also ready now. There are lots of players linked with us.

Odsonne hasn’t been on my radar, to be fair. I obviously know him but it’s about a player who will fit into the structure of the team.

Players being sold and going out on loan

Luis (Palma) will probably go out on loan. There’s been a little bit of interest in Yang but he’s been a good squad player for us.

Kwon is in a difficult position with the competition there so he’s obviously looking for a club.

The win over Sporting Lisbon

It was excellent. It was always going to be a very good test against a team with very good players who play their system very well.

I thought our pressing was good and we had to be brave. We did that and played well through the thirds.

We could have finished off a few more moves but we looked very good for this stage of preseason. It’s about consistently improving.

Unlike this stage during his first stint as manager Rodgers appears to be very diplomatic about the lack of support and backing that he is being given from the Celtic hierarchy.

Regardless of whatever is said in conversations with Dermot Desmond it is clear that the on the ground leadership at Celtic Park is incapable or unwilling to support the realistic ambitions of a manager that delivers success on the park and also on the cherished Balance Sheet.

So far the successes delivered by Rodgers have been self financing with the sales of Jota, Carl Starfelt, Matt O’Riley, Kyogo and Kuhn putting a healthy surplus on the club accounts while the manager struggles to maintain the goals output.

Last season the significant signings came in on August 14 with two more on August 30, following that timeline would probably tilt Celtic into an odds against position in their Champions League Play Off on August 19/20 and 26/27.

First team replacements were required from January when Rodgers got Celtic into a promising position in the Champions League.

Kieran Tierney is a clear upgrade on Greg Taylor, Ben Nygren is a great midfield option but in attack there is a very heavy reliance on Daizen Maeda to fill in on the left wing and as a striker.

At the age of 34 James Forrest appears to be the first choice option on the right wing, the veteran remains a highly useful impact substitute but starting him in a Champions League Play Off with Yang as Plan B is an unnecessary risk but one that Nicholson and his boardroom colleagues appear comfortable to take.

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