Brendan Rodgers says Celtic in 'really good place' due to squad rotation as he plans for Dinamo Zagreb in Champions League

Rodgers has a fully-fit squad for Saturday's Premiership game at home to Hibs; Celtic are unbeaten domestically this season; they are seven points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the table and 11 ahead of Rangers

Friday 6 December 2024 17:31, UK

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers feels his ability to rotate the squad is having a positive impact on the health of his players.

Rodgers has a fully-fit squad for the visit of Hibernian on Saturday after making six changes for last weekend's 5-0 win over Ross County and reversing four of those for the midweek victory over Aberdeen.

Several substitutes made a major impact as Celtic clinched victory in the 78th minute thanks to Reo Hatate's goal.

Rodgers said: "We're in a really, really good place, and I think that is also part of the rotation.

"Sometimes if you don't have the depth of squad and the strength in your squad, you may be having to play players for 90-plus minutes three times a week, playing them all the time, which is when you have a greater risk of injury.

"What we've been able to do is manage the minutes of the players and where there has been maybe a little niggle, we can then take someone out. Or if someone has played a lot more minutes, then we have that possibility to take them out. That's the benefit of having a depth of squad.

"So I've really enjoyed that aspect of it, picking the teams to put out and giving that opportunity for some of them to have some breathing space. It also can depend on the game that you're playing and what it is you want from the game. That will decide who plays also."

With a number of players in form, Rodgers has been able to plan ahead with his team selections and he will have next Tuesday's Champions League clash with Dinamo Zagreb in mind when he chooses who starts against Hibs.

"Listen, I'm not going to sit here and say you don't think ahead," he said. "Of course you do.

"That's the nature of my job. I have to plan forward, of course. But always you have to look to the next game as your priority.

"You need to understand what it is you're thinking about for clearly the Zagreb game, like I was when we had Ross County before we had Aberdeen. So you have to plan forward. But that's the exciting part of the job.

"It's absolutely brilliant I've got a great group of players that are hungry, that are ambitious and they all want to play, which is great. If they don't, they respect whoever's playing. They look after their colleagues and then we're all in to get the result."