Brendan Rodgers Mainstream Media Conference ahead of Dundee v Celtic

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The Celtic Star

·13 de janeiro de 2025

Brendan Rodgers Mainstream Media Conference ahead of Dundee v Celtic

Brendan Rodgers spoke to the mainstream media today at Lennoxtown ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Den’s Park to take on a Dundee side who had a chance to rest up at the weekend. As has been the case for many months now no Celtic fan media sites have been invited to these conferences…

Brendan Rodgers. Ross County v Celtic in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: How is the squad looking ahead of this game tomorrow night?

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Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, Nicolas is back but we’ll give Daizen one more day and see how he reacts. But yeah, good news with Nic back. Everyone else is the same.”

Q: It will be a boost to have those two back if both are fit. You showed at the weekend that you can have that versatility and play in different ways, didn’t you?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I think that was important at the weekend with the difficult conditions. I thought the players, especially when they watch the game back as well and analyse the game, I thought we played the game to a high level technically and as quickly as we probably could play on the surface. So I thought the squad did well. If you think our efforts on goal were nearly 30 attempts at goal and shots at goal. So from that aspect of it, it was very good. But yeah, we rely on everyone. Of course, if you have one or two players out, then okay, you have to deal with that. It is a squad game for us and the squad has done well at the weekend.”

Yang in action on Saturday. Ross County v Celtic in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Even Yang I thought had a really good game. He’s been in and out and had his chances, hasn’t he?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I think it is a challenge for Yang in terms of the guys in front of him who are doing so well. So he’s had limited game time. What we see in him every day is that he works so hard at his game. Sometimes, especially when you’re an attacking player, when you don’t play so much, there’s always a chance that you come in and you try to force things. But for me, he gives his all. He gives everything. Yes, he needs to be more efficient. You know, attacking players have to be able to create goals and score goals as well as do that pressing function that we want. He gives absolutely everything. He was unlucky. He had a great bit of skill. That nearly made him a goal, but the keeper made a good save. He makes a great run. You see his desire to get into the position that leads to the penalty. So in terms of effort, he gives absolutely everything. He did well at the weekend.”

Yang Hyun-Jun and Vicko Sevelj during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park, on 8th January 2025. (Photo Mark Runnacles)

Q: Is he one you think you can develop? You want to develop all the players, but given what you’re talking about on the other side, is he something you think you can get to the next level?

Brendan Rodgers: “That’s just time and patience. To get anywhere as a player you need that mentality also. We’ve always worked and given our best to all the players. It’s about talent and how that accelerates going forward. He’s a young guy who’s adapted so well to come on over from Korea and speaking English now, translating with the players. It’s a huge testament to him. He’s a really good kid. Then, as I said, we have to look at it. At this moment in time, there are players out. He’s coming in and working very hard.”

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Adam Idah in action on Saturday. Ross County v Celtic in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: What you said about attacking players coming in and trying to force it. Is that a similar thing for Adam Idah at the moment? Is it a cliche to say the big man needs a few games to get going? Do you sense he’s getting that rhythm back after two or three starts in a row?

Brendan Rodgers: “I thought, again, Adam did well at the weekend. He didn’t get his goal. I think some players are better at rhythm and playing. There are certain positions that you have to produce. That’s the reality of it but I was pleased with his contribution. I don’t need my striker to score 40 goals. If you look at any of my teams, the goals are always spread out. What I need is for the players to be intense and to be aggressive. There were some great moments for him at the weekend. He didn’t get his goal, but he was there. He had vital contributions, setting up the game for us, and allowing other players to attack the space, and he’s working very, very hard at him. I just think it’s one of those things. It will drop for him at some point. If you’re scoring four goals and your striker’s not scoring, then you will take that.”

Adam Idah of Celtic and Dundee United’s Ross Graham during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee United at Celtic Park, on 8th January 2025. Picture by Mark Runnacles

Q: Is that something you speak to him about as well? Strikers love scoring goals. Has it affected him, maybe that kind of thing?

Brendan Rodgers: “No, I don’t believe so. I think his own personal self and self-pride, you want to score goals as a striker. That’s why you’re there, to create goals and score goals. For me, as long as I’m seeing the work rate and the intensity and the mentality, then I’m really happy with that. Knowing that the goal-scoring burden doesn’t go to one player, it has to go to the whole team. As long as the team are working well, then that makes me happy. For him, he’s working well. He’s been unfortunate. He was sort of near post, and he had a couple of other wee moments but the goals will come from that. He’s shown that he can score goals.”

Q: Is he a good player to have at this time of year as well? It gives you different options as the pitches aren’t that great and sometimes the game is slightly different as well, and you are also carrying a few injuries. Is Adam a good option to have at this time of the year?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, yeah. Very good, I think. I think he’s a player who like you saw against Atlanta when you have to go over the top and pressure or whether it’s a surface we still always try and play on a difficult surface, but he gives you that possibility. He’s a really good reference for the team. He can still run in behind, and he’s good in the box. Having that different type of striker is fantastic for us. As you saw with Kyogo at the weekend, his movement for the first goal is, well, just the number of runs he makes to make sure he stays onside. Just the timing, the cleverness, and then obviously the finish. So to have strikers like that that can give you different possibilities. It’s very useful within your squad”

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Kyogo opens the scoring against Ross County in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Is it something you may want to try more often to try and play Kyogo and Adam in the same system together?

Brendan Rodgers: “I may do. I may not, I think it just depends. I normally play with wingers. It’s how I’ve always sort of worked that way. Kyogo rolls inside very well, and the shape just morphs into a different structure but it’s something that we can do. I think it’s having the flexibility. I’ve never been fixed to one system. I have been fixed to one style. The style will always be the same and the principles, but the actual system, I’ve always been flexible with how the teams have played. So this gave us a nice little conundrum with the team short of wingers. Okay, so how can we make it work? The players made it work well.”

Kyogo scores to make it 2-1. Ross County v Celtic in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Do you always enjoy that side of it when there is a conundrum and you need to think about things and how you do it? Do you enjoy that element of it and days like Saturday when it comes off?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, I think that’s the beauty of it. I think that it’s improvement and that constant improvement and development, that gives you the enthusiasm for it. Okay, so we haven’t got that. So how are we going to adapt? My first look is obviously for younger players, as there’s someone younger who can come into the position, that there’s not really. Okay, we need to shape it slightly differently. So what can that look like? That’s what I’ve done a few times in my career, at a few different clubs, and you rely also clearly on the players’ intelligence and the football ideas that they have. In the main, I thought it worked well for us, and that side of it clearly, I enjoy it.”

Ross County v Celtic in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: I’m thinking the lead-up to the season you had marked Rocco Vata, as a young third-choice striker to come in and develop. Is Jonny Kenny showing all the right signs after coming back from his loan spell that he could occupy that role now?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yes, well, I was delighted for Johnny. Obviously, young players come in before, had to go away, and I hadn’t seen him before. Coming back in and speaking to the guys, yeah, he looked a bit stronger than he was before. The one thing that I love about young players is their enthusiasm because, with enthusiasm, there’s no expectation. They just come and play, and they come and run, and that’s what he gave us when he came into the pitch. You know, sometimes the older players, I would say the same thing to an older player. Just as long as you’ve been taking enthusiasm for the game, then, you know, you just go and play. Johnny did that when he committed the game straight away. He’s contacted, he’s touched the ball, he’s good, he’s on the move. You know, the last goal is there, thereabouts, that creates the chaos in the box, and we finish well. So he’s come in, he’s only been in just over a week. We’ll continue to monitor him, he’ll be around it, and then it’s the next decision.”

Johnny Kenny doing his Celtic debut. Ross County v Celtic in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: Is he going to stay and be apart, or does he still need more game time out on loan?

Brendan Rodgers: “At this moment, I’ve been pleased. He showed a wonderful enthusiasm for football and work, and he’s done well. I can already see from 25 yards in, he’s a good finisher.”

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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: What have you made at Dundee this season, a good result last midweek?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, very good. It’s always good to be a difficult game when you go there. Probably not too dissimilar to our game at the weekend, where I think Tony’s (Docherty) team will be tight and compact and low on the pitch, and then you have to get to work to break them down. If you can do it early, great. If not, then you have to keep the patience, and it may come like it did at the weekend, later on. So, yeah, I think Tony’s done an outstanding job since he’s been in there and brought in some really good players. They all work, and you can see they all play for him, and he is only a few points off that top six, the last time out against (the)Rangers, they produced a good result. So, we know that like all the games we will have to fight for the result.”

Q: It’s the transfer window and managers want to do the business, are you confident you’ll be able to do what you want to do coming to the end of it?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, yeah, we’ll certainly try our very best. We want to improve the squad. There’s a lot of work going on to do that.”

Q: How many do you think you will need to bring in?

Brendan Rodgers: “I don’t have a number. I’d love to give you a number, but I don’t have any number because, you know, we may want to, but it might not be possible. So, we certainly want to add to the squad and give it a freshness, and hopefully help us come forward.”

Luis Palma at Tannadice, Dundee Utd v Celtic, Sunday 22 December 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Q: Luis Palma’s been linked again with a possible move away this January. Is he someone you maybe need to look at with his future, just given the fact that he’s not had as much game time as he would have wanted this season?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, yeah, he’s a player that I spoke to just the other day, and he’s a great guy. Everyone loves him here. We love him. He’s a brilliant lad, works hard every day, trains every day, and probably not getting the game time that he would like. We have to weigh everything up. Our first job is to look after our own squad, make sure that’s ready, and by the end of this month set up for the challenges for the rest of the season. If that allows some players to go out, then that can and may still happen. At this moment in time, he is here and a part of the squad.”

Q: Is he back home for a few days? Is he back here now?

Brendan Rodgers: “No, he’s back, yeah, he’s here now. So, yeah, it was just something that happened overnight, and I could see, I sensed with him the feeling, and then to sit in a coach three and a half hours, going up north probably wasn’t going to be the best thing for him. So, I just gave him the weekend, to be with his family, and then reset again after the weekend. So, he’s come back in, and it’s been a hard time for him, losing both grandparents, who were so close. He’s ready to go again, and he’ll be part of the squad tomorrow.”

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Alistair Johnson celebrates with Kyogo. Ross County v Celtic in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: You were praising Kyogo earlier about his movement and how he scored a couple of goals against Ross County. We spoke to you last week about the issue with the MLS which was nipped in the bud. He isn’t fazed by any kind of speculation about his future, is he?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, I think you can see, he’s… Well, I can see daily, it’s, you know, people who always look into something. You know, he didn’t celebrate enough, or he didn’t do that, or he didn’t do that. So, I see him every day, I see his work, I see his intensity, and maybe he scores so much that he doesn’t have to celebrate madly all the time. Or maybe he was too cold. But no, he’s just the same guy, you know. There is always speculation. I’m not scared of the speculation and the gossip. So, there’ll always be wee bits and pieces around him, but he’s fine, and he’ll travel tomorrow.”

Luke Cowan and Kyogo. Ross County v Celtic in Dingwall. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Q: If something was to come in for him or make an offer. Are you and the club set are you prepared for that? It could be that a club comes in with a good offer for someone like Kyogo as he’s 29. It might be a no-brainer to sell him. Would that be something that you can work with and allow it to happen and be prepared for that to happen and be able to deal with it?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, all these what-if scenarios you have to be. I think the biggest thing is, if a player doesn’t want to be here, then go. Then it’s at that point, that the club has to get the best possible deal. So, I don’t see the point of keeping someone who doesn’t want to be here. I think for us, we prepare for all eventualities, whether it’s injuries, whether it’s transfers. I think you just have to, you always have to be ready, and that’s our message. For him, at this moment in time, he’s happy, he’s working well, he’s scoring goals, and enjoying his football.”