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News
‘That threat’… Brendan Rodgers explains why ‘wonderful’ 24-year-old Celtic player started vs St Johnstone
Celtic’s squad depth is such that Brendan Rodgers can pick and choose from a number of players to play a variety of positions.
Now the question of whether all of these players are good enough is another matter, but the amount of players he has at his disposal is impressive and he used his squad to good effect against St Johnstone on Sunday.
Seemingly preferring Paulo Bernardo for the Champions League, Rodgers dropped the Portuguese midfielder for David Turnbull as he bid to return to winning ways against the Perth side.
Asked why he went with Turnbull against the Perth side, Rodgers was pretty clear that he was in the side to get goals.
Rodgers said [], “I think it’s his goal threat. David gives us that threat. And obviously, his shooting from outside the box is very, very good and he’s got a good goalscoring record.
“Luis has come in and he’s fresh from not playing midweek so otherwise we stay the same.”
Linked with a move away from the club, it’s clear that Rodgers intends to utilise his goalscoring midfielder as much as possible regardless of his contract status.
But Rodgers’ seemingly unwillingness to use Turnbull in the Champions League considering he needed goals against Lazio to keep his European campaign alive is strange.
Why can’t the manager stick with a player who has at points been ‘wonderful‘ domestically and continue to select a loan player who hasn’t done anything of note for the most important games of the season?
It does seem as though Rodgers doesn’t trust Turnbull and it is little wonder questions remain over his Celtic future and whether he will sign a new contract if he can’t keep a place in the European side.
I guess the next few weeks will be telling. Celtic are set to face Feyenoord to play for pride. If Turnbull isn’t given a start then, it wouldn’t be the most ridiculous conclusion to come to and suggest that his career at Celtic is coming to an end in January.
In other news, BBC pundit noticed what half of Celtic’s players did after James Forrest scored yesterday