Brendan Rodgers has hit back at claims that Celtic need to sign a new defender in the January transfer window.
The Hoops manager complimented his side’s ability to defend, revealing he believes his side are “very good” defensively and that too much attention is paid to his central defence.
Rodgers referenced the Bhoys’ Champions League campaign as being misleading to his side’s defensive qualities before questioning if signings could even help them qualify.
“There’s a lot of focus on our boys defensively, but there has to be a bit of respect and reality as to who they are playing against,” said Rodgers, as quoted by The Scottish Sun.
“Celtic didn’t qualify for the Champions League and they had Virgil van Dijk and Jason Denayer at centre-half.
“Who do people want Celtic to get? If we can’t qualify with those two.”
““I hear a lot of talk about ‘get a new centre half’, but defensively our team I think is very, very good — albeit we could always be better”
In their six Champions League outings, Celtic conceded 18 goals, with seven of them coming in one game against Paris St Germain during November.
Meanwhile, in the Scottish Premier League, which they top, the Hoops have only conceded 15 goals in 22 goals; which gives them the best defensive record in the league.
OPINION
Rodgers seems frustrated by people believing he needs a new defender at Celtic. He’s right to be when you just look at their achievements domestically. However, he hasn’t got a leg to stand on when looking at their Champions League record. While he makes a tongue-in-cheek comment that the Hoops still failed to qualify with van Dijk and Denayer; he can’t use that as a reason to suggest top class signings wouldn’t help them qualify. It would be foolish to suggest that signing a top player in any position for the club wouldn’t improve their Champions League campaign. Perhaps Brendan Rodger is just slamming the idea, as he believes that the Hoops are unable to sign a good enough player to help him.