BRENDAN RODGERS is attempting to put the Celtic jigsaw together as unrest among the fans became obvious again in the last-gasp 3-2 win over Motherwell at a tension-laden Parkhead yesterday.
The team boss acknowledges that all is not well within the club.
In the midst, though, of an extreme challenging situation, Rodgers must remain focused in piecing together a formation that welcomes new Bhoys such as Kelechi Iheanacho, Sebastian Tounekti, Benjamin Siegrist, Marcelo Saracchi and Michel-Ange Balikwisha.
And, at the same time, the Irishman must attempt to get the best out of the likes of Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and the returning Kieran Tierney.
Explaining the entire picture, Rodgers said: “I see myself as trying to pull it together on the pitch, which can help unify everything.
“Because it’s what Celtic is about. Celtic is that feeling. And, clearly, the feeling isn’t quite right across the club.
“It’s not right. However, on the pitch you have to win and you have to continue to win. And that’s why I’m so proud of the players.
“When we went 2-1 down, a couple of misplaced passes, you need to hold your nerve and deal with pressure.
“And the players found that calmness and that ability to create the opportunities. Then eventually one goes in for us.”
Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “It’s amazing for the supporters. Because, even though we’ve only lost once this season so far, it’s still been a challenging summer to this point.
“But that’s for them and it’s for them to enjoy that. Because we thoroughly deserved it.
“I think that’s all part of the experience here for those guys to understand. The guys who have been around know the difficulties and the pressures that are there. It’s that feeling that you get.
“That’s what Celtic is. And to win a game against a team that’s very well coached in how they play, that was a really good win for us. And it will give them a huge boost.”
The champions stepped onto a rollercoaster against the Fir Park club at the weekend. Iheanacho fired in his second penalty-kick in three weeks, but the visitors fought back to level and then go ahead.
Thankfully, though, the Hoops’ pressure paid off and substitute Nygren, who had come close twice after his introduction, made it third time lucky when he intercepted a pass from keeper Calum Ward and thrashed in the equaliser.
Deep in stoppage-time, Arne Engels found Balikwisha on the left with a neat pass. The Belgian picked out Maeda at the near post and the Japanese speedster dived full-length to rocket a header into the net for the points-clincher.
Rodgers said: “Daizen deserves so much credit. This is a guy I had seen before I came in here, then for over two years now, he’s given his heart and soul to this club.
“Everything that happened in the summer is well-documented and that’s not easy. If it affects a player like him, then you know how deep it goes. But he’s still turned up every day.
“He gets in with a nice little move and he gets the goal.
“I’m so, so happy for him and his family because he’s given so much to this club and he will continue to do that.”
As Celtic prepare to go into the international break, Rodgers also took time to praise Balikwisha who hasn’t exactly hit the ground running since his £4.5million arrival from Royal Antwerp.
The Hoops gaffer added: “It’s not easy for these guys coming in to play for Celtic.
“Celtic’s great when you look from the outside and see trophies, big games and European football. It all looks great.
“Then you actually come in and realise the expectation here and what you need to do every single day of your life. Then you have to produce on match day.
“I think, for him, it’s all been a wee bit of a blur. But I’m sure over time he’ll prove to be a really good player here.
“For me, it’s the continuous job of looking to find the solutions. Normally over the course of pre-season, you’re finding out all these things and then you arrive into your season and you’re ready.
“We haven’t been able to do that, so you’re having to find out within the games themselves because we’re playing midweek games so there’s hardly any training.
“That’s something I needed to see in this period of games, which I have done, and now we can go forward from there.”
HAIL DAIZEN, THE STOPPAGE-TIME HERO
