Rodgers explains the reason for absent 22-year-old
Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v Aberdeen - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - July 31, 2022 Celtic players in a huddle before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
Brendan Rodgers has revealed that Liel Abada has been given time off by Celtic to clear his mind.
The winger was substituted in last week’s 1-1 draw away to Aberdeen then came off the bench in the midweek win away to Hibs.
There was very little in the way of a positive contribution from the winger who returned from a long term injury during the December 30 Glasgow Derby.
With Palestine flags prominent among the Celtic support there is a real non-football issue for Rodgers to deal with and little comparisons to compare with.
Abada failed to make the Celtic squad for today’s Scottish Cup win over St Mirren with four different wingers featuring during the 2-0 win.
The Daily Record reports Rodgers saying:
He wasn’t in a right frame of mind. I’ll spoke a lot to Liel and it has been a challenging time for him. I just felt when he came into the game the other night, it just wasn’t him. So we gave him this chance to have a few days and clear his mind. I’ll have a chat with him again next week, see where he’s at.
On recent form it is hard to make a case for Abada to get a case in Rodgers’ Starting XI, January signing Nicolas Kuhn looks like being ahead of the Israeli winger for a place with Yang Hyun-jun also in contention with an appearance off the bench today just five days after being involved in South Korea’s Asian Cup defeat from Jordan.