BRENDAN RODGERS does not expect Barry Ferguson to produce anything to surprise him in Sunday’s Premiership derby at Parkhead.
The Celtic boss insists he has seen no great change or transformation in the Rangers side since the club’s former skipper took over from the sacked Philippe Clement four games ago.
Ferguson has won two and lost two, but, remarkably, despite a 2-0 defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce in Govan last night, he got the team through a Europa League quarter-final meeting with Athletic Bilbao next month.
Rodgers has watched film of the 4-2 victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park as the Ibrox club came back from two goals down in the caretaker manager’s first game in charge.
That was followed by a 2-1 reverse to Motherwell in Glasgow and then an incredible 3-1 first leg win in Istanbul before eventually getting through on penalty-kicks against the Turkish club.
As Rodgers prepares for the third Premiership encounter between the clubs, he admitted: “Listen, I don’t know Barry, but I know him as a player and I know that he’s gone in and he’ll have a great connection with the supporters.
“His history at the club, his success at the club, he was a fantastic player for them. For me, if I look purely at the coaching aspect of it, over the course of four games, I don’t see great change.
“You know, I see the team go 2-0 down against Kilmarnock and come back and win. I see the team lose at home to Motherwell. I see the team go away and get a fantastic result against Fenerbahce and then I see the team lose last night 2-0 over 90 minutes, but win the tie.
“I’ve seen the team change the system, absolutely a really good tactical change to go 5-4-1 in Fenerbahce, but I still see a lot of the same traits.”
Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “I think you can probably look at Barry over a longer time.
“If you’re talking to me about coaching and managing and you’re talking tactics and management and professionalism and these things, that will be done over a period of time.
“If you’re looking at the short term and him coming in as someone the fans can connect with, of course he looks very happy to be in the job and taking the job, him and his staff.”
The Irishman added: “However, I think if you’re talking coaching, I see a lot of the same traits.
“Some very good performances, some inconsistencies and Barry will see that and Neil [McCann] and his staff I’m pretty sure, as well.
“And then over the course of time they’ll hopefully look to change that.”
