WARNING SHOT!
Rodgers relishing derby clash and claims Celtic are in best place they’ve been all campaign long
BRENDAN Rodgers has warned Rangers to prepare to play the ‘best version’ of Celtic this weekend. A full-strength side demolished Hearts 3-0 at Parkhead last weekend. And Rodgers believes the champions head into Saturday’s derby clash with their bitter rivals in the best condition they’ve mustered since his return to the club last summer.
Buoyed by the rapid recovery from a hamstring problem by attacker Daizen Maeda, the Celtic boss said: ‘I don’t think there’s any doubt. We’ll arrive into the weekend’s game and this will probably be the best version of the team that I’ve had since I’ve been here.
‘When I look at the number of injuries that we’ve had right the way through, it felt like last weekend was just about there in terms of player availability and fitness.
‘I think, after another good week of work and concentration on the training field, then we’ll arrive into Saturday in as good a place as we’ve been all season.’
After losing key players Jota and Carl Starfelt last summer, Rodgers found his resources diluted further by injuries to Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate, Maeda and Liel Abada — who departed the club in January.
Troubled by a persistent Achilles ailment, captain Callum McGregor also allayed concerns over his fitness with a strong performance against Hearts.
‘Callum’s importance cannot be underestimated,’ said Rodgers, ‘the experience he brings, the quality view of the game and how inspirational a leader he is. It was really just about building him up and I felt then, at that moment when he made that run to challenge, not once but twice to win the ball, you actually see what that gives the supporters.
‘That’s why that intensity of pressing sometimes gets a bigger cheer than a pass or a goal, even.
‘But he, in that moment, it was fantastic, for him and the team. But also for me looking at him,. That’s really back to the level he’s shown.
‘It’s not a choice. It’s an obligation. We are a running team and when we penetrate, when we press, when we counter-press, that’s our game.
‘When we take the game to that level, we play the game at that level. That was the pleasing aspect.’
Striker Kyogo Furuhashi has struggled to maintain the standards of his first two seasons in Scottish football, but has shown signs of returning to form with five goals in eight games.
The Japanese international netted twice in the same game against Hearts for the first time since last May.
‘I think he clearly has a lot of joy against Rangers and his two goals at the weekend, real quick anticipation where the ball is going, he is so alert and alive. The second goal is great from Matt (O’Riley) and then it is what he does best, play off the shoulders of the defenders, his timing is perfect to be onside and finish it really well. ‘But it will always be about the team. There won’t be one player who will have any greater importance or any greater burden to bear than the whole team. We’ll be very connected in the game and that is how we always play.’
Three points and five goals clear, victory of any kind over Rangers would leave Celtic needing a single point from their final games against Kilmarnock and St Mirren to secure the Premiership for the 12th time in 13 seasons.
With no Rangers fans inside Parkhead, Rodgers hopes to benefit from renewed positivity amongst the home support, telling Celtic TV: ‘The crowd in the Hearts game were brilliant for us. I mentioned before about their importance at this stage in the season and they’re really getting behind the football aspect of the club and the team.
‘We see that, and you see that emotion just rolled down from the stands right onto the pitch. You see what it gives the players and how they respond to that.
‘We’ll need that exactly the same at the weekend and I know we’ll get that because I think the supporters are happy now with what they’re seeing in the team and now we have to play our part in that. But it should be a great occasion and I’m really looking forward to it.’