Hoops Sinc Irish.. now bring on Rosenborg
Bren reveals he will turn to former gaffer for dossier on Rosenborg
BRENDAN RODGERS admits he could call on Ronny Deila for the lowdown on how to dump Rosenborg.
The Celtic boss insisted he might be on the phone to his Parkhead predecessor after seeing off Linfield in style and setting up a showdown with the Norwegian outfit.
Rodgers’s side slammed four past the Northern
Irish side for a 6-0 aggregate cruise into the Champions League third qualifying round.
Rosenborg will head to Glasgow for the first leg on Wednesday and former Hoops boss Deila will have the inside track having faced the champions with his Valerenga side in his homeland earlier this summer.
Rodgers said: “Ronny is a good man and did great when he was here.
“We’ve got the information if I need it and I know he is there. Mikael Lustig is here too.
“We will have plenty of detail on them.
“We’ve watched some of their games already. They play 4-3-3 and are midway through their season.
“They’ll have a good level of fitness, their structure is pretty much set.
“Norwegian teams are disciplined and organised. However, we know whoever we get won’t be easy.
“But if we want to get to where we want we have to get through these games.
“Rosenborg will come and aim not to concede.
“We play how we play, we’ll attack the game and see if we can build a lead for the second leg.
“I’m sure we can go in tactically ready and physically we’re still building up for it.
“We’re 100 per cent different to where we were this time last season.”
Rodgers was delighted his men managed to get the job done last night without much fuss.
Scott Sinclair slammed in a double with Tom Rogic and Stuart Armstrong also on target in a comfortable evening for the Scottish champions.
Rodgers said: “The football at this stage of the season was very good.
“Our fitness gained an extra notch forward in terms of pre-season.
“Our first-half positioning in the game was very good and it was great to get through.
“Our only disappointment was we didn’t score more.
“We were a bit wasteful which sometimes happens at this stage.”
Rodgers handed new Bhoy Olivier Ntcham a surprise start and the £4.5million former Man City man ran the show in midfield while fellow summer signing Kundui Benyu got a late run-out.
The Hoops boss said: “It was very important for the new players. Oli has come in and we’re trying to get him game time.
“He had just over an hour and you can see his qualities. Once he gets up to speed he’ll be a great asset.
“Benny is bright, he wants to go forward.
“It was nice for Stuart to come in and finish well. Scotty Sinclair was back scoring again.
“He maybe wasn’t happy his goal last week wasn’t given to him and Tom’s was a great finish.
“If it wasn’t for Roy Carroll in goal the scoreline could have been bigger.”
Armstrong started on the bench but Rodgers insisted the decision was nothing to do with the playmaker’s contract talks breaking down.
He said: “There was no correlation. There has been no progress as of yet on the contract. I love working with Stuart.
“If there was any correlation then Scott Brown wouldn’t play, he’s in his last year as well.”
Linfield boss David Healy was proud of his players and looked ahead to their Challenge Cup campaign.
He said: “Hopefully we don’t draw Celtic’s Under20s! Celtic have won six in a row but this is the best squad they have had in a number of years.
“Celtic face Rosenborg next and they should be looking to go beyond and all the way to the group stages.”