Bren: Crowd not a factor
BRENDAN RODGERS says ice-cool Celtic can blank out the Ibrox cauldron and bag another Old Firm win.
The Parkhead manager and his team face a brandnew challenge at the home of Rangers with just 800 Hoops fans backing them in a 51,000 sell-out.
Ibrox will be at full volume against the champs
as they go into battle but Rodgers reckons his troops won’t even notice.
The Celtic gaffer insists the total focus and concentration on the job in hand which has brought them seven successive domestic trophies will again be a key component in their performance.
Rodgers has seen his team deal with adversity throughout his reign. And as he goes for five straight Ibrox wins since becoming boss, the Northern Irishman is adamant the ticketing situation isn’t a factor.
Rodgers said: “It’s not something we pay much attention to. We have played well in these games and we focus on the game not the occasion.
“That’s important. It’s down to temperament.
“When we came in, we spoke with the players to develop the personality to play for a big club like Celtic.
“The pressure is on in every game. You have to win every game but what gives you a better chance is if you play your game.
“What we’ve tried to help them with is how to regulate that pressure and you do that by focusing on your performance.
“It’s the task of the manager to ensure we set an environment that enables them to do that as often as they can.
“If there is pressure I can take the pressure. Go and play football and don’t worry about anything else.
“We’ve gone there before and shown what we can do. When we won earlier in the year, there was a great atmosphere, we went behind twice and lost a man and dealt with that. So it’s just a case of reinforcing that mentality.
“We are focused on how we work and when things go against us, we deal with it and always focus on playing the game.
“That’s why we have always played so well in these games, whether at Ibrox or Hampden.”
Rodgers reckons the ticketing arrangements could work against the hosts by cranking even more pressure on to Steven Gerrard’s team.
The Celtic manager, who has Kieran Tierney struggling with a hip injury and has a late decision to make on whether or not to start Odsonne Edouard after his recent abductor strain, feels the game is devalued by the move.
He said: “For the game, it takes away something.
“At Parkhead, it was great having more of our own fans but you want a more even allocation.
“It can work either for or against you. There can be more pressure. It just depends. It is a shame over both games that there wasn’t a larger allocation.”