Ross County v Celtic – “They will be hard to beat, and the pitch won’t be perfect,” Brendan Rodgers

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The Celtic Star

·10 January 2025

Ross County v Celtic – “They will be hard to beat, and the pitch won’t be perfect,” Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers spoke to the mainstream media at Lennoxtown this afternoon ahead of tomorrow match against Ross County in Dingwall…

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers arrives prior to the Premiership match between Celtic and St. Johnstone at Celtic Park on December 29, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: How is the squad looking ahead of the game tomorrow, how is Nicholas Kuhn?

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Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, he and Daizen are doubtful for the game, so we just have to find out where they’re at but both of those are doubtful. Not longer term, but should be hopefully okay for Tuesday. Luis Palma sadly had a bereavement overnight, so he won’t travel with the squad. James Forrest is still out, but apart from that, all good.”

Nicolas Kuhn and Alex Gogic compete for the ball during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and St. Mirren at Celtic Park on January 05, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: That leaves you a bit short in the wide areas then, doesn’t it?

Brendan Rodgers: “I just think at this moment in time and throughout the season there’s never a perfect situation, whether it’s pitches, whether it’s squad, whether it’s injuries. You can’t wait for everything to be perfect, you know, for your good squad of players and go into the game with the mentality to win, whoever is playing.”

Q: When you came in there you said, this is the real test, you’ve got to the Highlands, it was minus seven in Glasgow, what are you expecting tomorrow?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I’m sure Roy and Don will be welcoming us up there to Dingwall. I love the journey up, the journey is a fantastic drive up and they’re always tough games. You know, if you look at Don and his team, they produce some fantastic results of late. They are only a few points off the top six, so they’ll be on a nice little consistent run, will be hard to beat, and the pitch won’t be perfect, but like I say, we can’t wait for anything else. So they defend very well, they play a five diamond one, so lots of bodies behind the ball will make it difficult, so we have to use the speed in our game and use the quality in our game to help to break through that.”

Q: To borrow your phrase from the other day, Dingwall is not a phrase for dickie-bows, is it?

Brendan Rodgers: “We certainly don’t want any points for style. These games at this time of the year, there are no points for style. We always want to go and play and win in the best way that we possibly can. That is always the nature of our game, but ultimately this will be a bit of resilience, mentality, getting through the tough moments in the game, and looking to be as attack-minded as we possibly can be.”

Jim Goodwin, Dundee United Manager looks on prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park on January 08, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: It seems like it’s been going really well at the moment, but speaking to guys like Jim Goodwin and Stuart Kettlewell, they’re starting to think this structure of the league through this period from December and beyond is a little bit ridiculous. Is that something you’d kind of echo as well? You look at this list of games and the sheer volume over this period, is it too much?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, my bigger picture and take on it is that we always knew December was going to be a hard schedule, getting through all of that. Then you had your New Year’s game, and then normally you’d have virtually a couple of weeks to reset, refresh and then go again for the second part of the season. To then actually have even more games in that period, now that we’ve had a break, it is a real challenge. You can’t deny that. We’ve got this game here and we’ve got three games in six days, so we play Saturday and then we’re on the travels again on Tuesday night. Now we will do everything we can to produce the best performances and results and be focused on that as much as we possibly can be. However, it is a real, really heavy schedule. As I said, it’s there, so we have to get on with it, but it’s certainly not ideal for what I’d say in terms of the support base to get the best level of games that we possibly can get but we have to get on with it.”

Brendan Rodgers looks on prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park on January 08, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: It’s almost inevitable, Brendan, that the quality of these games is impacted because if the players have no time to recover, then obviously you’ve got a bigger squad for usage and Jim Goodwin was talking about having to rotate players last week and not being able to get to that maximum level and that is almost inevitable given the amount of games that everybody is facing, isn’t it?

Brendan Rodgers: “I think on a different scale ourselves also, we have to rotate, we have to change because of the level of games that we will play and the number of games that we play. It’s the product. You want to produce the best product, that you can and that can be a challenge when you have so many fixtures.”

Q: Would you take an earlier start to the league season, maybe in July, but just to get a bit of a bigger break or fewer games at this time of the season?

Brendan Rodgers: “I understand there are more games as the Champions League has now been extended so that puts in a couple of extra games in January. So that accounted for that. It’s catch-22. I thought that we could have started later. We started earlier than, say, some of the other leagues. So I felt that that extra little period, you know, we get to the Scottish Cup final and then we’re back in before the end of June. So yeah, it’s increasing. There’s absolutely no question about that and the demands on players. We have to cope with it and manage it in the best possible way we can.

Jim Goodwin, Dundee United Manager shakes hands with Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park on January 08, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: In the wider context, we have two teams in Europe in January, but most squads are going to be battered for six weeks solid before getting to those games. We’re trying to elevate the actual level in Europe, aren’t we? We’re not really helping matters, but we’re doing this, are we?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, certainly it doesn’t help. It doesn’t help. Hopefully going forward, we can find solutions to that. I think, as you say, the spotlight will be on ourselves and Rangers in European competitions. You’re going to come out the back end of a really gruelling schedule. So like I said, we have to cope with it and maybe in the future, the organisers and guys can look at ways in which it can help.

Q: You were always a big advocate of the winter break, it is very rare teams keep going and kick on. Is that something you’d like to see being stated at all possible?

Brendan Rodgers: “If it was ever possible, I think it’s for the greater good of the game for supporters. I’d love to hear about the January schedule as well. You think of the finances for supporters. Ultimately, you come off the back of a Christmas period and you’re into a run of games quickly where the kids want to go, and the people want to come to the games. I know the Celtic supporters and supporters in general will do everything they can to get to football games, but it might be also nice for them to have a wee bit of relief from that pressure of finding money for travel and for food and for everything to get to football games. For players, I do think the schedule is only getting greater and heavier, and that will have an impact on players’ injuries because they’re not robots. They aren’t robots, and they need that recovery time. I’ve seen a scheduling there for the end of this season. You’ve got a Champions League final, and two weeks later there’s a Club World Championship starting in America. How are you supposed to recover? How are you supposed to get yourself ready again? It’s a real challenge for the modern player and especially the top player. I think in general, that circuit breaker I think is good for everyone. If there’s ever a way for it to come in, then of course I’d be very supportive of that.”

Reo Hatate celebrates scoring his team’s second goal with teammate Daizen Maeda during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park on January 08, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: You mentioned the players’ fitness levels – are they pushing themselves to the maximum every day now?

Brendan Rodgers: “That’s why we as managers and coaches will speak on that. That’s because we see the players every day, we see the resilience that they have, but they are not machines. They’re not machines. We want to produce the best football that we can for supporters so they get the value for money. You never want it to be a slog. You never want the tempo to drop, and all these types of things. That will invariably happen once, as I said, you’re just churning out all these games with very, very little recovery in between.”

Q: I think you said after the Rangers match perhaps, the points gap was so great that it possibly subconsciously affected the players. Given that the points gap is now 15, do you have to say to them not to be distracted by this?

Brendan Rodgers: “No, listen, firstly, the points gap is there because we’ve been so consistent. That’s the reality of it. Whatever points another team gets, I can look at ourselves and know that the consistency of this team has been very, very good. When you have that consistency, then in a competition, that can be a big advantage. That resilience, that mentality, that focus, to get those results, that allows you to build that gap. I don’t think it’s one where we can ever take our foot off the pedal. The Rangers game at Ibrox, a few weeks back, that was, listen, I know at sport you can lose, but the general intensity of our game was nowhere near anywhere where I was expected to be and wanted to be. That game has been a great learning opportunity for us because you have to be competitive in a game of that magnitude. My teams have always been that in the main, and I wouldn’t expect them to be anywhere near that level again. The learning opportunity was, and the simplicity of it, that if you don’t put the effort in, and the work rate, you won’t get your wins. This is what this team have been brilliant at consistently. They produce, and that’s what we focus on, that’s what our messaging is, and that’s what we demand every single day.”

heRangers manager Philippe Clement with his team at the final whistle of the Scottish Premiership match between Dundee and theRangers at the Scot Foam Stadium, at Dens Park, on 9th January 2025. (Picture by Mark Runnacles)

Q: Are you surprised that you are 15 points ahead on January 10th as it stands?

Brendan Rodgers: “It doesn’t really matter now, if I’m honest, we just have to keep churning out the results and performances. You can only win your games. I repeat the consistency that the players have shown is a great testament to them because that can get overlooked. The focus is always on three points and whatever else, but I can only look at my team, and the club as a whole, the consistency and the level of which you can repetitively perform and win and win and win after winning. It’s not an easy thing to do, and there are many examples of that, but this group and the mentality and the club as a whole consistently how we keep going, it’s really good, and we want to keep doing that.”

Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, shakes hands with Odin Thiago Holm of Celtic after the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic FC at Ibrox on September 03, 2023. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Has Odin Thiago Holm’s loan deal been confirmed yet?

Brendan Rodgers: “Hopefully, that will be confirmed soon. He is due to go out on loan. Stephen (Welsh) has gone away to get some game time. There may be one or two others throughout the window, but there are lots of conversations in terms of both ins and outs and we’ll see what develops.”

Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic wins a header during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park on January 08, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Kyogo that was a strange situation where the MLS said that he had signed for Atlanta. It was a mistake but the fans were worried that there might be something in that from the Atlanta side. Have you heard anything about that? I would imagine you would not want to lose him in January.

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, I can guarantee he’s on the coach and he’s travelling to Ross County, so he’s certainly not an MLS player. There’s always lots of gossip and speculation around so many players, especially talented players, so I’m sure that will continue to be the case over the coming weeks.”

Q: You must have been taken aback when you heard it and the announcement had been made that he had signed, were you not?

Brendan Rodgers: “I only knew five minutes before I came into here, Iain Jamieson (Celtic’s PR Manager) and that was the first I’d heard of it so it was a wee bit of a surprise.”

Tierney attended a Celtic FC Foundation event in London last week, seen here with Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers. Photo Celtic FC

Q: How are you finding this January window? Has it been sort of skewed because you’ve been in games now in January? Is that a case of maybe having to wait longer than normal in terms of incomings?

Brendan Rodgers: “No, I’m fine with it, but we’ve been working hard over the month leading up to this year’s period, and as I said we’re very hopeful that we can get players in that we would like, but always availability and affordability of players is something that is a challenge in this month, but I’m fairly confident that we will be able to bring in the necessary changes to the squad that can help us. I want to be able to bring in more attack and threat and more goals into your squad. I think January was always a really good month to add that freshness to your team, so it’s just about getting those deals over the line, I’m fairly hopeful that we can do that.”

Q: What about the likes of Nicolas Kuhn and James Forrest? There is a big European game on the horizon are they in doubt for that kind of period?

Brendan Rodgers: “No, no, James certainly won’t be available. The two boys could be ready for Tuesday. Daizen’s played a lot of football, just something that we didn’t want to aggravate. He’s gone for a scan, so it’s not too serious, but it just rules him out of this game. Likewise, Nicolas felt something in the warm-up, he has had the scan, and it is nothing too serious, but it is just too much of a risk, and he won’t be able to go this weekend. We’ll keep them here, get the treatment, and then we’ll assess them for Tuesday’s game.”

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