Brendan Rodgers has returned to Celtic and in his first league game has made one of the biggest calls of his second tenure as the Hoops gaffer.
Rodgers dropped Reo Hatate for David Turnbull for the Flag Day opener against Ross County yesterday. And whilst the decision was warmly received by the Celtic support, there is no denying that it was a huge one by the Celtic manager.
Hatate was undoubtedly one of Celtic’s biggest performers over the last two seasons. Performances in the Glasgow Derbies plus in Europe proved that when it came to the big games, the Japanese midfielder can be relied upon to perform.
But the midfielder found himself on the bench yesterday and Brendan Rodgers explained why he preferred Turnbull over the fans favourite.
Rodgers said [The Sun], “For me, it [Turnbull’s inlclusion] was a clean slate, I had the chance to watch all the players in pre-season. He’s a lot more mature now. He’s been excellent. Like I’ve said, last season doesn’t really matter, you move forward.
“It’s about drawing a line under that.”
No one can argue that Turnbull deserved his place in the Celtic midfield yesterday afternoon. His preseason form was excellent whilst Hatate’s tailed off after the Japan Tour.
And it seems that Rodgers’ decision yesterday is one that the Celtic fans have seen before. When I read the Celtic manager’s comments, it took me back to the days when Leigh Griffiths was the number one man at Parkhead.
At the time Rodgers was hired, Griffiths had just come off the back of a 40-goal season under Ronny Deila and would have, rightfully, believed that he would have started as the first pick in Rodgers’ side.
But in came Moussa Dembele and out went Griffiths and the reasoning the Celtic manager used at that time was very similar to the reasoning he used yesterday.
Rodgers said at the time [Sky Sports], “I have nothing in my contract that says I have to play Leigh Griffiths. I will play always the team I think can win the game.
“I respect what Leigh did last season but I wasn’t here last season so this is a new team with a new cycle of work, a different way of working, a different manager and all the players understand that and that’s why they respect the team that plays.”
And boy did that decision pay off. Rodgers sent two messages to his Celtic team with that call yesterday. One, everyone deserves, and will get, a chance if they are good enough.
Turnbull clearly is and he repaid his manager’s faith with a coolly taken penalty and a well-finished second goal.
Secondly, and most importantly, Rodgers has told everyone that regardless of how they played last season, they will still need to work hard to get into his team.
It really is a masterstroke by the Celtic manager. It keeps all the players on their toes which also raises performance levels. If there was any danger of any of the squad getting complacent then Rodgers has removed that with one swift move.
In other news, Chris Sutton’s message to Celtic over Carl Starfelt’s imminent exit
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