Rogic, Zenit’s final prep

Pictures of Tom Rogic back at training are very welcome but he will surely be weeks away from competing at the top level, I don’t hold out any hope for him playing in the away game against Zenit, never mind the home game.  You will remember Brendan Rodgers took a long time before allowing Tom to play an entire 90 minutes, suggesting latent concerns about the player’s natural fitness.  I have him down for an appearance at the end of the month.

Zenit got the better of Maribor in Turkey on Saturday in their final warm-up game before facing Celtic, although the Slovenians, also on a midterm break, had more of the play and chances. There is little confidence ahead of Thursday’s Europa League tie, but that nervousness you feel in July, when we leave for Scandinavia to play a team 22 games into their season, will be felt in Russia right now.

Zenit may be stronger, but we have reasons to be hopeful.