Brendan Rodgers hits back at Scottish media’s Celtic narrative

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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers believes critics of the club are trying to portray a state of constant crisis at the reigning Scottish champions.

There have undoubtedly been some issues at Celtic since Rodgers returned to the club. A sluggish transfer window meant the club failed to build on a position of strength, while there have been some recent poor performances, as well as an early exit from the League Cup and a disappointing European campaign.

However, the Bhoys are currently top of the Scottish Premiership and, having already defeated Rangers at Ibrox this season, have the chance to pick up a big derby victory at Celtic Park later today.

For Rodgers, there’s much to look forward to in charge of Celtic and he reckons his squad is only going to get better as his second spell in charge of the club progresses.

Celtic boss hits back at media narrative

Speaking this weekend, the Bhoys boss said [Glasgow Times]: “I think if you read or listen to everything in the media you would feel we were in constant crisis mode here. That’s what I feel. But I don’t think that way at all.

“It’s just levels, isn’t it? I think it’s just levels. But for me there is no difference [to the first time I was here]. I just think it’s maybe how it gets reported and how it is out there. For me we are still in a good place as a team. We are going to get better. We will hopefully improve the squad. Like I say, we’ll see where we get to at the end of the season.

“It’s another great game for us. I think going into that last game [at Ibrox] we were off the back of not a really good result. We had performed well against St Johnstone but didn’t get the result. This time we are going in with a good feeling.

“I think the big games always give you the chance to impose yourself. We have been a little bit inconsistent. When we have been good, we have been good in games. But we need to find that consistency. I think these games speak for themselves. We can go in and perform to a really high level and that will give us a chance to get the result.”

A victory over Rangers later today would silence much of the criticism being thrown Celtic’s way recently. However, it has to be said that the wrong result would spark an even louder outcry against the current direction of the Bhoys.

Those are often the stakes in these derbies but it feels even more heightened at the moment with the title race fully ignited at the top of the table.

It’s clear that Rodgers doesn’t fear that kind of referendum and he’ll fancy the chance to show 60,000 Celtic supporters that his side is still the best Scotland has to offer. Bring it on!

In other news, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers delivers verdict on Philippe Clement’s Rangers.