The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Hoops’ focus switches back to league matters
Brendan Rodgers is looking for Celtic to return to domestic dominance at Kilmarnock after being handed a harsh European lesson by Valencia.
The Hoops’ 2-0 defeat by the Spanish side in the first-leg of the Europa League last-32 tie on Thursday has left them with a monumental task in the return game in the Mestalla stadium next week.
It was the Scottish champions’ first defeat of 2019 after seven straight wins, and their first goals conceded this year, with the Northern Irishman blaming the defeat on basic mistakes and a higher level of opposition.
Rodgers now wants his players to at least maintain their six-point gap over Old Firm rivals Rangers at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership when they travel to Rugby Park tomorrow afternoon.
The former Liverpool boss said: “Kilmarnock is always a tough game for us. We have to recover from Thursday, which we will do, and then expect a tough game.
“The players will be ready. The energy we have had after the break has been good. The team has been playing quickly, creating opportunities and taking the chances.
“Unbeaten, defensively strong, we haven’t made many mistakes, and as a team, we have pressed the game very well. So we will need to be that at Kilmarnock.
“They will have had a full week to prepare and they will bring that energy into the game, so we need to be able to match that and then to make no mistakes.”
Meanwhile Hoops defender Jozo Simunovic believes it is only a matter of time before plastic pitches are booted out of Scottish football for good.
The centre-back joined his Parkhead team-mates and players from the eight other Ladbrokes Premiership clubs who play their home games on grass to sign a PFA Scotland petition demanding artificial turf is outlawed in the top flight.
Hamilton, Kilmarnock and Livingston all boast synthetic surfaces, with Accies vice-chairman Les Gray hitting back at union bosses as he branded them “dinosaurs” for their objections to plastic.
The former Dinamo Zagreb stopper is set to start for Brendan Rodgers at Rugby Park for the first time tomorrow after previously choosing not to risk a long-standing ankle complaint on the Ayrshire astroturf.
He said: “I can play and I’m looking forward to the game as we want to take all three points and continue our run.
“But I don’t enjoy playing on these pitches, and it is not only me who feels this way. I think all players feel the same, and for me in professional football, they need to take them out. It’s very simple.
“It is not natural grass, and we are professional footballers. We should play on natural grass.
“For me, I feel OK afterwards but some other guys feel it more after a game on astro.
“There are many players who have been hurt on this kind of pitch. When you are playing every week on normal grass then after five or six weeks you move to astroturf, it’s a big difference.
“The people in charge of the game here care about it for sure. They are going to take their time because it’s not just one team in the league who has an astro pitch.
“But we believe that they want to fix it and will take care of that in the future.”
For the Hoops, midfielder Olivier Ntcham suffered a recurrence of a hamstring complaint last week and left-back Kieran Tierney is working his way back to fitness from a hip problem which has kept him out for two months, while Anthony Ralston, Filip Benkovic, Tom Rogic, Eboue Kouassi, Daniel Arzani and Leigh Griffiths remain out.
Eamonn Brophy is set to return to the Kilmarnock squad.
The Killie striker has missed the last three games with a calf complaint but is working his way back to fitness.
Defender Stuart Findlay has a 50-50 chance of recovering from a knock but right-back Ross Millen is definitely out with a foot injury.