'In fairness to the players, they have been brilliant with that,' Brendan Rodgers

Celtic face Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park this evening in the opening leg of their Champions League playoff tie, before travelling to Almaty, Kazakhstan, for the return leg next Tuesday.

As players move in and out during the summer transfer window, Rodgers has reminded his squad of the importance of maintaining concentration with crucial fixtures on the horizon.

At yesterday’s media conference at Celtic Park, which I attended representing The Celtic Star, the Celtic manager outlined the message he had delivered to his players about handling this demanding spell of both tough European and domestic fixtures.

‘It’s important to just set the narrative’

Brendan Rodgers said: “I mentioned this a few weeks ago to the players because I think it’s important to just set the narrative for them, because, like you say, there’s so much noise, especially as it ramps up towards the end.

“I’ve been in enough changing rooms to know how stability can be lost in this moment because some players will be thinking, are they staying or are they going? But in the midst of that, you’ve got really important games.”

”It is about respecting and acknowledging that it is a difficult part of the season’

“It is about respecting and acknowledging that it is a difficult part of the season. However, the money will be in your bank every month, and it will be from Celtic, and whilst it is you need to perform. So you don’t need to worry about anything else.”

Rodgers added: “I respect and acknowledge that it can be tough, especially if you’re wondering if you are going to be here or not, but Celtic pays your wages, and while they do, you focus on doing the very best you can for Celtic. Then, we start that process every day in training, being the very best that we can, pushing each other, demanding, and then we’ll take that into the games.”

“In fairness to the players, they have been brilliant with that,” Brendan Rodgers 

“In fairness to the players, they have been brilliant with that. You see it in the last number of games, the attitude in the game, the energy in the games, has been very, very good.”

Watch Brendan’s full media conference below…

Conor Spence

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