BURKE FACES EUROPA RACE
FROM BACK PAGE second one in behind is frightening, really.
“It’s a joy to watch a Scottish player with that physicality and quality. There are things that he continues to work on, but he’s doing exceptionally well and he has to keep improving.”
Rodgers was thrilled as his side maintained their fine start to 2019 by lashing five past St Johnstone without reply to march in to the quarter-finals.
Scott Sinclair plundered a hat trick, with James Forrest notching after Scott Brown found the net with a 35-yard screamer as Saints were put to the sword for the third time in 12 days.
Rodgers said: “It was another good performance, we didn’t give away too much. We know it’s a big step up in terms of quality on Thursday night.
“But I can’t complain. We are nearly into mid-February, we haven’t conceded and the players are working very hard. They look fresh and are playing at a really good level. So today was good preparation.”
Celtic’s win set a new record of 24 cup wins on the spin and Rodgers admitted his satisfaction with another entry in to the history books.
He said: “We’d won the four previous games and it was going to be the game that would show their mentality and character.
“Because if they didn’t work and aren’t focused and aren’t hungry then it can be a really, really difficult game. But they showed their mentality and quality and I said to them after the game that they’d broken another record.
“I didn’t want to mention before because they didn’t need it. There are enough demands from me to win.
“The consequence of it is they broke a record and it’s another great tribute to how they’ve been working for the last two-and-a-half years now.
“We were very good in the first 20-25 minutes. We were in a good place but then became a wee bit sloppy. We misplaced passes and came out of our shape. We gave them an opportunity and Scott Bain made a good save.
“So at half-time we had to re-establish control of the game in terms of our positioning. It allows us to press the game better and sustain more attacks.
“We were excellent in the second half.”
Rodgers revealed Olivier Ntcham suffered a tight hamstring in the warm up and wasn’t risked, while Jozo Simunovic was withdrawn at the interval with a sickness bug.
The Hoops boss hailed Jonny Hayes after the wide man slotted in at left back with injuries to Kieran Tierney and Emilio Izaguirre.
He said: “Guys like Jonny aren’t playing so much but it’s a testament to how professional and focused they are, that when they are asked to come in and play, they can do it like Jonny did. He was full of energy, created a goal and defended well.
“There were some options for him in January but I told him I couldn’t let him go. If he was at any other team, he’d probably be playing every week with his qualities.”
Perth boss Tommy Wright admitted his men are sick of the sight of Celts but won’t let three defeats in a fortnight to the champs wreck their season.
He said: “We can’t let three defeats define our season and affect us.
“We’re sitting sixth, we still have a hell of a lot to play for, we’re still in the box seat in terms of getting top six. There’s no disgrace in being beaten by a team wiping the floor with everybody at the minute.
“They’ve just got better players. We have to accept that, draw a line, move on.”
BRENDAN RODGERS is confident Oli Burke will survive a Euro injury scare to terrify Valencia on Thursday. The Celtic flying machine caused concern among fans after limping off in yesterday’s Scottish Cup stroll against St Johnstone. On-loan West Brom star Burke helped slam the Saints but the knock is not expected to rule him out of this week’s Europa League showdown with the Spanish big guns in Glasgow. Rodgers said: “Oli took a knock to his ankle. We hope he’ll be okay. You see his intensity and the threat he gives us. He was absolutely fantastic. He should be okay for Thursday.
“Oli has shown and started to progress as we thought he could. He has wonderful attributes and his pressing sets a real tone.
“He’ll be difficult to play against because the one thing that frightens defenders is pace.
“The speed he showed for Scott Sinclair’s first and the