7 Rangers players who could leave in January transfer window as Philippe Clement puts stamp on squad

Brendan Rodgers talked exclusively to Celtic TV today, expressing his excitement for this weekend’s match against Rangers…
Brendan Rodgers is no stranger to these squabbles, having clashed with the newest Ibrox club on numerous occasions. He won the first Glasgow Derby encounter of the season in their own backyard, despite being advised by the media that his squad was doomed.

Brendan, being Brendan, pulled a rabbit out of a hat that day in Govan, when a depleted Celtic team fought hard and boxed cleverly to win 1-0 thanks to a superb Kyogo Furuhashi goal. Liam Scales was also forged in fire that afternoon, paving the path for his spectacular climb to Celtic first-team regular after a stint on loan at Pittodrie with Aberdeen.
The club wasn’t at its best in the first part of the season and managed to blow an eight-point advantage in recent weeks. Rodgers, on the other hand, has halted the bleeding and now has the opportunity to increase his lead from five to eight points this Saturday.

Looking ahead to the match, the Irishman stated, according to the official club website, “They are going very well.” We certainly feel ready after a really fantastic performance and result against Dundee, so we’ll put our final preparations in place. “I’m really looking forward to the game.”

“That is the synergy of this club, that connection between the support and the players,” he said of the possibility of a full house of only Celtic fans this weekend. When we have the fans behind us, we are a big force at Celtic, and we will want that at the weekend.”And I’m confident we’ll get it because this is a game that fans will look forward to. We had a terrific victory and a good performance at Ibrox, and now we’re back at home in front of our own fans, where we want to deliver another strong performance and result.”

With recent triumphs over Livingston and Dundee – both of whom have a horrendous low-block – the manager saw the urgency of getting back to winning ways.

“It was, but for me it was also about the performance levels which were more where I would want them to be,” he went on to say. “In the Livingston game, we applied a lot of pressure, scored goals, and had other opportunities.” But, more crucially, we didn’t give anything away, and Dundee did the same. Dundee away on Boxing Day is always going to be a difficult game because they’ve had a fantastic season, but we completely dominated the game.”We dominated the pitch, generated numerous opportunities, and scored three excellent goals.In terms of performance, the previous two were lot closer to where I want us to be. I believe that if you work as hard as the team does and has done, you will gain confidence when you achieve success. Everything revolves around performance. You can tell when you’ve performed well, and I believe the tempo has increased the intensity of our game in the last couple of games. And if we play at that level, we can win a lot of games.”

Brendan feels it is welcome to see the Bhoys fire on all cylinders again, with the team demonstrating goals all over the park. He also singled out Paulo Bernardo and Mikey Johnston, who has battled to establish himself as a Celtic player at times.

“It’s very important,” he added. “I’ve always been a coach who wanted goals from every team department.” You can’t rely on a single player to score 30 or 40 goals per season because what if he gets hurt? He’s out, so the value of wide players, midfielders, center-halves, and full-backs chipping in adds up to where you want to be.

“So I was very happy for Paulo.” He’s come in with a terrific mentality, whether he’s played or not, and I believe he’s grown and developed the longer he’s been here and understands how we’re trying to play. And he received his prize the other night for it.

“I’m overjoyed for him, and Mikey possesses those qualities.”You saw him come off the bench and make a significant impact. He has a goal in him and is a great finisher when he gets in. It didn’t surprise me that he came off and scored, but it’s always wonderful for him because I know it’s been a while since he scored for Celtic, so it was a nice evening for him.”

Gillespie, Paul

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