Players fit for anything as Rodgers comes up with a winning formula
MYRIAD emotions were stirred at Celtic Park on Wednesday night. Among feelings of anticipation, elation, frustration, disappointment and sheer mental exhaustion, there was also an undoubted element of doubt and then astonishment.
The doubts centred on Celtic’s ability to play with such an intensity and at such a pace for 90 minutes. The astonishment arose when they did so and more, still chasing Manchester City into all corners of the field as an enthralling Champions League tie rolled into injury time.
Pressing opponents high up the park is all the rage in football these days but it often comes at a price. The old-fashioned notion of taking a quick breather as the other team bring the ball out from the back is dying out. As is the idea that goalkeepers and defenders under pressure should launch the ball quickly, and as far away as possible.
That combination of maintaining perpetual motion when not in possession, and being bold in your passing when you have the ball, is both physically and mentally draining. It is a style of play that demands so much from every player from goalkeeper to centre-forward.
The fear of mid-season burn-out is an obvious one, but Brendan Rodgers is not concerned. Training, he reveals, is tailored for every individual ahead of every game. As they say in the adverts, here comes the science bit – concentrate.
“At the moment every single player is fit,” the manager said. “The training is tapered in order to maximise what they bring into a game. My physiologist does a terrific job. And there is a relationship between medicine and sports science, and the football philosophy that we have. Each day, the training pitch size is all geared towards the next game. And it means the players are at the right level of intense physical loading going into every game.
“Nobody in the team is asked to do any more or any less than anyone else. It’s the collective that allows us to work that way. And every player gives their maximum. If you’re struggling for whatever reason, you come out and another comes in to maintain it.
“If you look at our games we tend to have fast starts and late goals. And when we’re under pressure for the last 15 minutes, as we were the other night, we block and fight and do everything to get the result. So there’s a mental fitness with the players that’s growing all the time and there’s a physical fitness too. That is a huge thing to have in your armoury.
“That ability to know that when others are flagging you can keep going. You have to keep driving and demanding. At 3-1 or 4-1 against Kilmarnock last weekend it would have been easy to sit off, but you have to keep pushing to the end. As a supporter sitting in the stand that’s what you want to see. “You’re representing them, so every minute of your life on that field, you have to devote it to them and give everything. Physically, we train to be like that and the players enjoy it. What I’ve learned with really good players is that they enjoy working hard.” Rodgers did admit, though, that the three-week winter break will be fully utilised to recharge the batteries. “Oh, yes. I think the players will enjoy that, he said. “We’ll have a block of time in January when we can recover, press the reset button and be ready to fly again for the second half of the season.”