Celts fight back for Rodgers

BRENDAN RODGERS last night watched his side fight back from two goals down to grab a draw in his first match as Celtic manager. Afterwards, the new boss praised forgotten man Nadir Ciftci, whose contribution sparked the visitors into life in the 2-2 stalemate against NK Celje. The Turkish striker, who

spent the second half of last season on loan to Eskisehirspor, scored his first goal for the Hoops since December last year. Rodgers, who fielded two different XIs for both halves, said: ‘I thought he (Ciftci) was excellent. He has worked very hard in training and has taken on board that the striker needs to be able to press and work how we want him to play. ‘I need to assess him. I’ve seen a lot of players for the first time, but I seen him as a young player at Portsmouth playing against my son — who was at Chelsea — and he was a talent then. ‘He was mobile. If we can get that mobility back into his game, he’s got a good idea for football. He has talent. He’s worked very hard and it’s good for him to score. He was excellent. ‘We still have a long way to go before we reach the level I want us to be at, but the players are showing me great effort and desire. ‘We need to develop our football fitness, but there was some positives with the young players who came in. They showed they have the nerve to play.’ Rodgers said he plans to pick two XIs for either half again when his team cross the Austrian border to face Sturm Graz on Sunday, with skipper Scott Brown likely to have recovered from a niggle that forced him to miss last night’s tour opener. ‘Scott had a tightness of his hamstring last Saturday, so we just left him out as a precaution,’ he explained. ‘There’s no need to take risks just now. He’s doing some running and should be OK for the weekend. ‘Emilio Izaguirre only joined the squad on Monday, so he needs a bit longer, but he’ll also be available on Sunday. ‘We’ll probably play two teams again in the next game then change it. ‘Around 45 minutes is about where we are at, but we’ll build it up ahead of the Champions League games.’