ADAM & BELIEVE
Cork man Idah has Celtic fans dreaming again as he climbs off bench to rescue title bid
BRENDAN RODGERS admits being Celtic boss is bad for the blood pressure.
But the Parkhead gaffer insisted his side’s nerve-shredding late win at Fir Park shows the Hoops still have the heart for the title fight.
The champions looked set to lose further ground on rivals Rangers after going into the break a goal down against Motherwell.
But Adam Idah followed up his leveller with a stoppage time second before Luis Palma completed the job to cut the gap at the top to two points and prove they have a Premiership pulse.
Rodgers – who has seen his team score 21 goals in the last 15 minutes of matches this season – said: “Celtic’s never good for the blood pressure, that’s for sure! It never is.
“It shows the belief, and that has to be at the forefront of everything, because that comes before performance.
“It hasn’t been the most fluent this season for so many reasons, but now I think we are getting some key players back and it is starting to really stiffen it up for us.
“It allows us to have that base to attack the games, and they have that belief to keep going.
“It is what this club is known for, and every group has to have it. If you play for Celtic, you need to keep going until the very end.” Rodgers admitted Celts send the stress levels through the roof but he insisted his halftime message was to keep their cool. The Hoops boss insisted he didn’t read the riot act despite a brutal opening period – but he did hook Kyogo with the Japanese ace struggling to make an impact.
Rodgers said: “No, it was just about staying calm in that moment.
“It was more the football and the performance, we were arriving into areas too early which gave players less options on the ball, that meant the passes were longer and they were looking into depth too much.
“Sometimes that happens in the game, so at half time it was just about staying calm, reinforce the good bits of the game, but actually where we needed to adapt in order to connect the game.
“That is what this team is about. Stay calm, because it’s one goal in it and I know this team and I know this club.
“Once you get into a roll and get your flow and your rhythm, you can really be aggressive and go on and score more goals.”
Rodgers was thrilled to get Cameron Carter-vickers back in action from the bench.
He said: “You see when he comes into the game, there’s no trouble.
“The big guy up front [Theo Bair] gave us a problem in the first half with his strength and his size, and Cam comes in and just controls that side of it.
“Him coming back is huge for us.”