E OF THRONES
Hoops boss Rodgers tells pretenders to the crown his men won’t be intimidated
BRENDAN RODGERS insists he won’t get fired up by the Rangers fighting talk – because he’s heard it all before.
The Celtic boss shrugged off the confident chat coming from the Gers camp ahead of tomorrow’s Old Firm showdown and insisted he isn’t worried after demolishing previous big claims made when Mark Warburton and Pedro Caixinha were in charge of the Light Blues.
Rodgers – who has Stuart Armstrong and Dedryck Boyata back fit – aimed a couple of thinly veiled barbs across the city following the Gers celebrations at landing the Hoops in the Scottish Cup. The Parkhead manager branded the clash a mustwin for Graeme Murty’s men and insisted his side don’t need to use the Gers jibes as motivation.
Rodgers is out to go nine points clear at the top of the Premiership and said: “I’m not one to look over the fence to see what the neighbour has because that’s irrelevant to us.
“They obviously feel really, really confident but we’ve been there before – when they were going for
55. It is a similar feeling, a similar noise. If you have that expectancy then great, you have to go and deliver. So, for me, the focus is on ourselves.
“There’s no doubt that Graeme has done a good job in stabilising the team and giving them more of a British core, bringing in one or two players who will work and run and some supporters of the club as well, for whom it will always mean a bit more.
“So you can’t ignore that but it’s not a worry – you just have to concentrate on bringing your best game.
“You always have to be careful what you wish for. The job is always to respect your opponent.
“Rangers have got good players, they have a fanbase who are now expecting and they have a manger who has done a very good job of going in and stabilising. They will want to go on now and win the game. I can only control our own emotions.”
Rodgers has claimed all week the heat is on Gers tomorrow and he cranked it up a notch by insisting the Ibrox men cannot afford to lose. He admitted the Light Blues have picked up in form - but insisted they hadn’t faced anything like his side yet.
Rodgers said: “The narrative can change and it does change. It is all cool. It’s important not to trap the players with the pressure.
“Playing for Celtic, there’s pressure in every game; we know that and we know there are consequences in every game we play.
“But don’t worry so much about it and, in particular, not about this game. We want to win it but, for Rangers, there’s probably a need to win it and that’s a totally different psychology in the game.
“It should be a fantastic game because they’re in decent form, even though the goals they’ve scored have come against Championship teams, with all due respect.
“The psychological message of winning, that is clear, especially at this time of the season.
“They will want to win it to try to cut the advantage but for us we want to extend our lead but the important thing is to go and play well.”