GALLIC BRED
Hoops’ French strikers find shooting boots for Armenia jaunt
BRENDAN RODGERS is ready to let his French double act loose on Alashkert after Leigh Griffiths suffered a Champions League blow.
Hoops hitman Griff is battling to join the squad who set off today on the trek to Armenia after suffering a crock relapse – and defender Marvin Compper’s injury jinx has also struck again.
Rodgers is in confident mood ahead of Tuesday’s qualifier as he has Moussa Dembele and Odsonne Edouard firing on all cylinders.
The Celtic front men formed a deadly
duo as the Scottish champs thumped Shamrock Rovers 7-0 in Dublin yesterday.
And they are set to be sent out to try and shoot down Alaskkert in Yereven.
Rodgers (right) said: “We’ve played it before with a two up front. It’s a system I’m doing more preparation with it. We have the personnel for it, especially when teams sit in.
“During the first half against Rovers you saw the numbers we had pouring forward and the speed.
“There are still things I need to iron out with it but we are very aggressive and very fast. Odsonne is such a clever player and he has everything. “And Moussa with his strength and power, I think the combination within the system really works well for us. “You see how they combine and the running off the ball. We want to get back to scoring more goals. “That was one of the key items we looked at when discussing our goals for this year. “It’s not necessarily about having two strikers because we normally play with three in a different way. It’s about getting that aggression in attack and I’ve been really pleased with that over pre-season.”
Rodgers would love to hit the goal trail in Armenia and leave the Glasgow return leg a formality.
But the manager admitted he’ll be happy just to seem them get through safely as he insisted his squad is ready to roar.
He said: “The idea is to get over the two legs and get through. The conditions will obviously be more challenging for us.
“At this stage in the season we couldn’t be better prepared.”