Sunshine and rain.. success & failure ..Yin & Yang

Rodgers can’t afford to take rough with smooth

further suffering and taken out the line of sight. Under those circumstances, who knows when he’ll be back?

The likes of Jose Cifuentes and Sam Lammers can look cowed by the sight and sound of a full house at Ibrox.

And mental frailty isn’t good in a city where the intensity of the rivalry between Celtic and Rangers is now at an unhealthy level of disdain for one another.

I had one caller on the radio last week who could not bring himself to say the words “Rangers” or “Ibrox.”

He would only say “Govan” to signify one or the other.

And there are those who support the team across the road on the other side of the city who have their own version of l ing u i s t i c gymnastics as well.

Players have to get on board with, and stay strong in the face of, the madness or they’ll be of no use to Rodgers and Clement.

The pressure on Celtic at Ki lmarnock today, for example, will be enormous.

The margin of their lead over Rangers at the top of the table is now wafer thin to the point of leaving absolutely no margin for error.

And they’re playing on a ground where they have already lost this season – even if that was in a cup tie and not a league match. So what will it be from Rodgers today?

More character assassination to heighten per formances? Or the manager’s default setting of budding Poet Laureate to focus his players’ minds?

Brendan has taken to lyrical phraseology to get his point across.

“There’s always sunshine after the clouds,” he said after the win over St Johnstone that followed the loss to Lazio in the Champions League.

“Strength comes f rom disappointment and in order to succeed you need to have failure.” None of that will wash with Celtic fans if three points aren’t forthcoming in Ayrshire this afternoon.

There are supporters who would rather field a weakened team against Feyenoord in the last Champions League group match in midweek because they regard the league game after that, against Hearts, as being more important.

All that stuff from Brendan about f lowers and what happens if they get too much sun or rain will be so much horticultural hogwash unless there are strong minds and ambition shown from this day forward until the ultimate test of bottle on December 30.

The manager can do damning when he feels like it to prove he understands, chapter and verse, what he’s got on his hands.

There would be “no sleep lost” over David Turnbull’s on-going contract talks was one observation.

The £7.5m defensive pairing of Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke aren’t getting a game because the gaffer’s seen them in training and doesn’t think they’re ready, was another cutting comment.

That’s the most damning indictment yet of what we’ll call a signing strategy, for want of a better description.

It’s also a topic for another day – the first of January when the next window opens.

For the time being, Rodgers’ priority is the players who are getting a game and what they can do to avoid mishap before facing the game that will be the ultimate test of their ability to stand up to scrutiny.

A reliable keeper, for instance, who makes the saves he should be making, is the least he should expect .

Rodgers needs to see the minimum requirements being delivered today by Joe Hart & Co before the rest of us get the chance to see if there are any mood swing issues where the manager is concerned.