Deal with it- Rodgers sends bizarre message to Celtic’s treble winners

Brendan Rodgers has sent a puzzling ‘Deal with it’ message to the Celtic squad that faces Motherwell today as the final dozen SPFL matches get underway.

After dropping 10 points since the start of December the visitors kick off at Fir Park trailing by five points in the Premiership table with the pressure very much on.

The second half car crash showing against Kilmarnock is still fresh in the mind, followed by Friday’s excuses from a Chairman who refuses to take any responsibility for the marked fall of in performances and results despite the club being at its wealthiest ever point.

Last summer Rodgers inherited a treble winning squad, they had smashed it in Scotland with Joe Hart and Callum McGregor the only regulars over the age of 25.

Things could only get better in the eyes of many supporters but two bizarre transfer windows, with Rodgers having the final say on every signing, has left the squad bloated and short on quality.

Starting against Kilmarnock last week only Luis Palma and Adam Idah of the new signings were involved with the Honduran substituted at half-time.

Whatever plans and ideas he has Rodgers is there to manage the squad, get the best out of each player and produce a formation and tactics that deliver winning results.

Kilmarnock twice, Hearts and Aberdeen have dismantled Celtic’s title lead with supporters increasingly questioning why Rodgers can’t get a tune out of his vast squad.

A rallying cry, a uniting message is needed ahead of today’s lunchtime clash, instead Rodgers appears to be distancing himself from the squad- putting the onus on players to deliver results.

The former Leicester boss told the Daily Record:

If you can’t handle pressure, especially at the biggest clubs – those aren’t the clubs for you. Go away, there’s plenty of clubs for you where it’s like a holiday. You play one game a week and there’s no drama.

If you draw a couple of games and win eight, you’ll be held up there but with the biggest clubs, that’s part of the deal.

You have to be able to deal with playing home and away here. In my experience of Celtic Park, it has been an amazing place to play. For players coming here, it’s great when you look on YouTube and see 60,000 fans singing You’ll Never Walk Alone or Champions League nights but in the small print it says, by the way, there’s big pressure. Deal with it.

This is a journey for them, to come through to be a Celtic player. It’s all about time. It’s difficult for any player or manager to come into a club where the expectations are absolutely huge, if you’ve never felt or sensed anything like that before.

At a club like this, that comes onto you pretty quickly. Then you have to get through that. So this is all part of a phase of players getting used to that expectation.

The vast majority of the squad that Rodgers takes to Motherwell are treble winners or signings that he has endorsed.

While he throws out the ‘Deal With It’ message many fans will say that that is Rodgers’ issue with the compensation of being the highest paid manager in Celtic’s history sitting on the comfort of a three year contract.