CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers has told his players to put all thoughts of their Europa League second leg against Zenit to the back of their minds, with today’s less glamorous proposition of a Scottish Premiership game against St Johnstone sandwiched between that match and their pulsating first-leg victory over Roberto Mancini’s men last Thursday.
The euphoria from that result will no doubt still be coursing through the veins of the Celtic players, and Rodgers has stressed they will have to approach today’s game against Tommy Wright’s side with the same vigour if they are to avoid a slip-up, despite the struggles of the opposition of late.
“That was my message after the game,” Rodgers said. “It was a brilliant performance, one of the best since I have been here. But we need three points on Sunday. You saw [after the Zenit game], late at night we were doing the training session to make sure we are ready.
“They have been stuffy games against St Johnstone here. Tommy’s team are well organised and makes it difficult.
“When we have gone up there we have scored lots of goals but here they are compact and make it tight. But we have to find a way.”
One man who came in for particular attention from Rodgers prior to the Zenit match, and for plenty of praise afterwards, was central defender Jozo Simunovic. The Celtic manager has been drumming home to the Bosnian how vital it is for him to maintain his focus, and that doesn’t just mean when the European big boys come to town.
“I had a good chat with him and reiterated that he will not achieve the levels I think he can if he does not concentrate,” said Rodgers. “It’s as simple as that. It doesn’t matter if it’s Partick Thistle, St Petersburg or St Johnstone – you have to be concentrated in your game.
“You saw him [against Zenit], he was brilliant. But that’s what you have to be. We had him at 23, Kris Ajer is 19, Kieran [Tierney] is 20, [Kouassi] Eboue 20, Olivier [Ntcham] and Moussa [Dembele] is 21, these are young
players. The concentration and maturity was very pleasing.”
While Rodgers won’t be allowing his players to look ahead to the match against Zenit, he allowed himself a moment to consider the importance of the clean sheet they achieved against the Russian side to their chances of progression.
“It’s vital as we’ve experienced in the qualifiers,” he said. “We’d like to have won the game against Rosenborg but we got a 0-0 and the clean sheet was important. The longer the game went on over in Norway you could feel the anxiety setting in for them, their players. Astana, we kept a clean sheet and won 5-0 which was important.
“I thought defensively we were brilliant. We showed great maturity and it’s going to take another performance like that.”
The win over Zenit was Celtic’s first victory on home soil in European competition outside of qualifiers for four years, and Rodgers feels the result was needed to help his players believe they can compete at that level after sobering defeats at the hands of some of the continent’s elite clubs.
“Yes, I think so,” he admitted. “You’ve got to respect what we are measured against. We are being measured playing against Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. That’s huge but it’s obviously relative in that competition.
“But you see the level of confidence in the players. Numerous times we have been doubted as a squad. And criticised. That helps our growth and it helps us develop. You saw that [on Thursday] in a big European game at Celtic Park.”
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