I will take what Suarez had to say about Rodgers.
On paper, they don't have the players or the ability to attract top players in order to do something meaningful in Europe, such as reach the latter stages of the Champions League.
But I do wonder what this season has done for the confidence of these players and this club. There will be an aura of feeling invincible with the season they've had, and if they can carry that momentum into next season then I think Brendan can do one better and indeed take them far into Europe on that basis alone. It will be interesting to see.
Lennoxtown and the parkhead pitch are being upgraded. It seems we are finally doing what we should have been doing a while ago and recognising that the structure (YA) at Celtic is going to be far more important going forward as our ability to attract players becomes less. Coaching players to a higher level has to be priority and it seems it is now being made one. We are also finally getting a proper indoor pitch for training in the winter. Scandalous we didn't already have one.
Watching us last season to this season is night and day. It was interesting to hear that when Brendan and Chris first arrived, they knew they didn't have time to coach the players the way they wanted to as we were straight into CL qualifiers so all they taught the team the first few months was pressing as a unit. I thought overall (Barca game aside) we acquited ourselves well and didn't panic as we tended to do in European foottball when actually in possession. However, looking back, it makes sense that pressing was all they were taught for the first few months as the second half of the season our passing, protection of the ball and movement has been far better which has obviously come as a result of more coaching time. It wasn't particularly on show today which I put down to Aberdeen giving it a good go and not letting us have a second before they tired and our lot just wanting to get the job done and get over the line, but for someone who goes to the games, the difference in us from last season is unbelievable.
The confidence levels are clearly through the roof. Stuart Armstrong has always had ability, but now imposes himself on a game in a way I did not think he had in him. There are numerous other who have improved dramatically in the last year.
As ever, we are all worried about the qualifiers but there is a genuine hope we might do ourselves a bit of justice in Europe in the next couple of years.
