Celtic have the chance to win their first piece of silverware this week.
Brendan Rodgers will be proud of how things have gone since the start of the season, but this is now the time to make it all count.
Celtic’s League Cup final against Rangers on Sunday is the main event, but they have Champions League matters to deal with on Tuesday night.
For Rodgers to balance all of this out – and it needs to be noted that Celtic have played three games a week since the return of the final international break of 2024 – you need a strong squad.
And it’s fair to say that Celtic’s squad is as strong as ever, which is being showcased in the performances, no matter who plays.
This is something Charlie Nicholas touched upon and how Rodgers has helped keep these players on ‘edge’ and then managed to get the best out of them.
But Nicholas feels there are people like assistant manager John Kennedy, who has also played a key role behind the scenes, but perhaps have been viewed differently in previous times.
Charlie Nicholas slams people who have ‘taken a swipe’ at John Kennedy at Celtic
From Adam Idah to Paulo Bernardo, all these players are worthy and good enough to start on a regular basis, but they have been bench players for most parts because of the quality ahead of them.
Nicholas stated that someone like Kennedy then helps keep players like this ‘motivated’ behind the scenes and he, along with the rest of the coaching staff, ‘deserve enormous credit’ for it, as he told the Warm Up.
But the former Celtic player feels, in the past, there have been people who have been ‘very quick to take a swipe’ at individuals like Kennedy.
“It’s the competitive edge that he has managed to get,” said Nicholas about Rodgers keeping the bench players on their toes. “He has managed to get control of who he wants in and who he wants out, Brendan Rodgers.
“When you see the competitive edge, Bernardo is coming in instead of Engels, who is £11 million. Idah, who was supposed to be, ‘Oh, nine or £10 million. Is that the end for Kyogo?’ He keeps chopping and changing. He keeps them on the edge. The demands at Celtic are high, of course they are, because they are so used to being dominant domestically.
“But to keep that edge on the bench is really, really tough. Him and his staff have done a great job. Lots of times in the past, people like (John) Kennedy and all of them. They would take a swipe at them very, very quickly. But they don’t realise what they are doing behind the scenes. Keeping these guys motivated when they aren’t getting a start. They all deserve enormous credit for it.”
Who will Brendan Rodgers rotate for Celtic’s clash against Dinamo Zagreb?
Celtic beat Hibernian at the weekend, with Rodgers, once again, ringing the changes and you suspect it will happen again in Croatia against Dinamo Zagreb.
The players on the bench perhaps gave an indicator as to who will start in Zagreb.
Cameron Carter-Vickers was rested by Rodgers and he didn’t even come off the bench, whilst Reo Hatate, Paulo Bernardo and Kyogo Furuhashi earned some minutes – the latter scored a goal worthy to grace any pitch.
Perhaps that’s a sign as to who will come into the XI, especially with the Rangers game around the corner.
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