THE SILENCER
Rodgers backs Dembele to end Ibrox title talk
BRENDAN RoDgERs believes ‘big-game player’ Moussa Dembele can silence talk of a Rangers title challenge at Ibrox this sunday.
The Frenchman terrorised the govan side with five goals in five meetings last season.
Although the striker is yet to score in an old Firm game in this campaign, Rodgers suspects he is now back to his best after the ‘background noise’ over a big-money January move finally abated.
‘I think he is a big-game player, Moussa,’ said the Parkhead boss. ‘The players need to do it at Celtic in every game. But certainly in those big games he
has always come up trumps and shown his qualities.’ Dembele’s poor display in the last meeting of the bitter Glasgow rivals heightened speculation he would leave in the last window. However, in an admission that talk of an £18million move to Brighton messed with the striker’s head, Rodgers believes the 21-year-old is now back in a good place mentally. ‘I think the background noise has gone,’ said Rodgers. ‘That’s absolutely key for any player. ‘I think what you see is a young player free now in his mind to focus on his strengths. When he is that, he is a real handful. ‘He was terrific in the game here against Zenit. In the game over there, he played very well when the team, collectively, was not at its best. ‘Against Aberdeen, he showed his power. And now he is just moving as I would expect. ‘You have to work really, really hard. You have to have an intensity and we see that in his game now. ‘He is using his strength, his power and is a top-class young striker.’ Dembele’s campaign began with a recurrence of the hamstring injury which curtailed his involvement at the
end of last season. Addressing concerns he is prone to muscular ailments, Rodgers added: ‘The unfortunate thing, especially with dynamic and fast players, is they can tend to have that issue. ‘Moussa had a few and you are always trying to monitor it. But there are various reasons for that. ‘He has worked very hard to get his level of fitness right and now he looks much better. ‘There is no doubt he has that hunger and energy back. It’s very important for us.’ Meanwhile, Graeme Murty believes there will be a queue of players at his door presenting their case for involvement against Celtic on Sunday. Likely to have the vast majority of his squad available for selection, the Rangers boss faces a number of dilemmas in key areas. Jason Cummings scored his first career hat-trick against Falkirk last weekend and would seem to be one of the men in possession of the jersey. But Murty anticipates others in his high-flying squad will believe they have also earned the right to start — and will not be shy about stating their case. ‘I am not worried about it (team selection),’ said Murty. ‘I am sure I will have a few people knocking on my door saying they want to be involved and Jason Cummings will probably be at the front of that queue. ‘This is the game everyone wants to be involved in. ‘I have no doubts that whoever I put on the pitch will be motivated and ready to go. It is just making sure we get the blend right.’ Out injured since September, Lee Wallace played 90 minutes behind closed doors against St Mirren yesterday, with Michael O’Halloran netting Rangers’ goal in a 1-1 draw. Jamie Murphy is also thought to be winning his battle to shake off a foot knock sustained against St Johnstone.