‘Certified winner’ can help get Rodgers’ side get over line to title
Veteran Forrest’s ability to cope with the psychological barrier to success could be Celtic’s secret weapon
PSYCHOLOGY comes in handy for any footballer entering the business end of the season and chasing titles and cups. Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers recognises it can be what separates winners and losers.
The Northern Irishman swept all before him in his first spell in Scotland with Celtic winning seven out of seven domestic trophies before he left to return to the Premier League with Leicester in 2019.
Four years on, he has the scent of silverware in his nostrils again. A cinch Premiership and Scottish Gas Scottish Cup double to be precise. With five games to go in the title race, Rodgers’s men have manoeuvred themselves into pole position once more. The champions lead Rangers – whom they will meet at Hampden in the Scottish Cup final on May 25 – by three points.
For Rodgers, winning titles and cups is all in the mind. The Celtic players just need to find a way of coping with the mental side of the game as the bandwagon rolls into Tayside on Sunday to face Tony Docherty’s Dundee at Dens Park.
“This is the period where you have to get your trophy head on,” the Celtic manager said. “You get your focus on what it takes to become a champion. The players here are well-versed in that.
“They understand the mind set, they understand the psychological traits that are needed at this stage. Physically you have done a lot of your work and you might have one or two players looking to get back in or up to speed.
“In the main, it is all psychological now and this is the part of the season where this team have been really, really good and this club have been exceptional. You have to do it and that will be our focus each game at a time starting against Dundee.
“Psychology is always there in the background. Sometimes it’s the body language you’re portraying in the words you’re using with your players. I just think this period of time is very important, that aspect. The psychology of football is always there, but in particular this period of the season.
“It’s just making sure the players are calm, prepared and have clarity around their job. Nobody external or anything like that, just a calmness around the environment.”
Rodgers is well aware that nobody typifies what Celtic needs more than ever in their ranks right now than 32-year-old winger James Forrest. Forrest has an incredible winners’ haul of 22 medals – including 11 titles, six Scottish Cups and five League Cups. One more gong will see him surpass Scott Brown’s total. He is three winners’ medals short of Lisbon Lions Bobby Lennox’s record of 25.
It was thus apt that Forrest came onto the Hampden turf last weekend and made such a telling contribution in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen as Celtic triumphed on penalties. A consummate professional, Forrest showed at the national stadium that there is life in the old dog yet... a lot of life. He still has a vital role to play during Celtic’s last six games of the season.
Rodgers said: “I think that James is a certified winner and he knows what it takes. Having someone of his ability and stature around the team is very important at this stage. You’ve seen it in a number of the cameos that he’s produced recently.
“He didn’t get so much game-time in parts of this season that maybe he felt he deserved. We were giving other players a chance that were brought in, but the longer it goes on, you see his qualities and what he brings to this team. I think that’s his mindset as well as what he brings to the pitch and that calmness as well as the quality will be really important for us.
“He’s a remarkable professional. From the first time I met him back in 2016, I knew there were some noises about him moving or going but I never felt that at all.
“His professionalism and focus are absolutely phenomenal. How he looks after his body and prepares himself has never wavered. There are times this season where he’s maybe felt that he should have played more and I should have played him more, I don’t know. What I know is I was never going to rule him out because I know what he gave me in my first time here and in the spells this time he’s been absolutely brilliant. He’ll be an instrumental figure for us both on and off the pitch over these closing weeks.
“You are judged once you move on, and you’re sometimes judged harshly when you’re still in the post. I think if you look at the longevity of his career, to have played here through the many players that have been here. You think of the wingers that have come to this club in the years that he’s been here, for him still to have been the stalwart and a really important player.
“Even now in the latter part of his career, still to be as important. I think people were surprised when I mentioned him being the best winger here a number of weeks back. I think you see now what I meant. How he looks after the ball and takes care of the ball. His game understanding, how he protects it. He’s one of the best wingers I’ve ever worked with at
He didn’t get so much game-time in parts of this season that maybe he felt he deserved. We were giving other players a chance, but the longer it goes on, you see his qualities and what he brings to this team. I think that’s his mindset as well as what he brings to the pitch
receiving the ball so close to the line under pressure because he very rarely loses it. He can create and score goals.
“Now the challenge for any player as they grow older is the intensity at which the modern game is played, especially in a team where intensity is the demand. That’s how this team works and how my teams have always worked. That doesn’t take away the contribution that he can have, whether that’s to start a game or come into a game. I see it every day in training, he’s a brilliant player and has been over many years for the club. He’s someone I know will really be important for us till the end of the season.
“I look closely at training, I observe it and I take it seriously. I’m not the type of coach where you can just turn up every day and you can do what you want but you’ll still play on a Saturday because you’re a good player. It’s what you doing on the training field. For young players, James is a fantastic role model. The younger guys will see how he prepares, how humble he is, how he looks after his body. That’s why he’s had the career that he’s had. That’s why it allows him, at this stage of the season, to come alive. This is what the top players will do. He’s absolutely brilliant for us and has been for so many years.”
DESPITE his advancing years, Rodgers is still astounded as to how Forrest can continue to produce and sustain his levels of consistency in an ever-changing modern-day football environment. Rodgers said: “It’s something that I’ve always been impressed with.
“When I came here the first time, and then when I left and went to the Premier League, I had no qualms about saying to people that he’s arguably the best player that I’ve worked with receiving the ball on the touchline. How he takes the ball, his body shape, how he feints when he receives it, whether that’s on the right side or the left side, that’s something that our younger wingers can learn from. You need players of that quality that allows you to keep the ball in those areas of the pitch.
“When you have talented players, they have a love of the ball, they keep the ball. That allows your team to move up the pitch, and none more so than your defenders because they get relief. From a tactical and individual perspective, I always say to younger players to watch how he takes the ball. When you’re a right-footed player playing on the left, sometimes you come inside to create the space. He does all of that magnificently well. I’m lucky I get the chance to see it every day.”
The focus of attention has switched to league business and the Taysiders are next on the hit list although Rodgers has been greatly impressed by the way Tony Docherty has gone about his task this season. The aggregate score in the three league meetings between the sides stands at 13-1 in the champions’ favour but Rodgers is taking nothing for granted. He said: “I think Dundee have had good results throughout the whole season.
“I think Tony has done a brilliant job, both him and his staff. There are stronger squads, I’m sure, in the league that will feel they could have made the top six. But if you look at what Tony’s done, or the likes of Stephen Robinson at St Mirren or Derek [McInnes] at Kilmarnock, they’ve really shown their coaching and managerial qualities. In particular, Tony, as this is his first season as a manager and in the Premiership. The job he’s done is brilliant.”
With Japanese winger Daizen Maeda also on the mend quicker than expected Celtic are certainly heading into the last six Premiership and Scottish Cup games in good shape physically. Psychologically the club are also in a good place. Rodgers wouldn’t want it any other way.