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News
Brendan Rodgers explains why Nat Phillips was left out of Celtic’s match-day squad
When Brendan Rodgers named his starting lineup to face Rangers this morning, the announcement was met with surprise.
Widely expected to be named in the starting eleven, Nat Phillips was left out of the full match day squad which meant Liam Scales partnered Gustaf Lagerbielke in the heart of the Hoops defence.
Celtic boss, Brendan Rodgers explained in his pre-match interview why Phillips was left out and delivered the timeline when the supporters can expect to see him in the green and white hoops.
Rodgers said [], “Well both players they haven’t had a lot of game time in pre-season.
“So Nat comes in and we spoke to Liverpool before signing him and that was one of the considerations that we had. That he was going to be ready after the international break.
“So we have to respect that. He’s a Liverpool player but after the next couple of weeks, he’ll be fine to be involved.
“And Paulo [Bernardo] as well. He’s not had enough football over the course of preseason he’s trained. So we have to look at him.
“He’ll go away with Portugal u21 team and hopefully get some game time and then come back and we’ll assess it from there.”
With the international break upon us now, Rodgers will have time to work with Phillips to get him up to speed on Celtic’s style of play.
He will also get the chance to work and train beside Lagerbielke as he is likely to partner the Swede in the heart of Celtic’s defence despite the outstanding performance of Liam Scales this afternoon.
The domestic action resumes on the 16th of September with Celtic facing Dundee in the SPFL at home. The Celtic support will be hoping that they will get to see Phillips in action as well as the other two new additions of Paulo Bernardo and Lius Palma as they continue their bid to defend the league title.
In other news, ‘The law is’: James McFadden and Neil Lennon shares whether Rangers goal in Celtic game was correctly disallowed