Celtic's Brendan Rodgers confirms Hatate's fresh injury woes

Can you start with an injury update? Is everybody fine and will Alistair Johnston be okay for Wednesday?

Yes. Alistair will be fine. It was really just precautionary taking him off especially with Tony (Ralston) being able to play. He's come out of the game okay. Odin (Thiago Holm) will be back which is great as well. He's been out for a few games with injury but he's been back training so he's available for us. The other guys Reo (Hatate) we are not 100 per cent on the timings of that but he's certainly going to be out until after Christmas. That's a shame. Stephen Welsh is back training which is good. Other than that the rest are all on course. Liel Abada will be back in mid-December, and that's the update.

What have you made of Paulo Bernardo since he came in to replace Reo in the last two matches? What do you see he can do for the rest of the campaign?

It will be between him and other players that we have in that position when they get the opportunity. I think with Paulo he is a fantastic young professional and he has come in from a different country and adapted and settled really well. He's really looking to take on board the football philosophy here with regard to how we want to play. He played virtually the whole game against Atletico Madrid and it was always going to be a challenge for him at the weekend, but for that first 60-odd minutes he worked hard and did very well. I just think over time he will get better and better. We also have Dave Turnbull and Odin who can come into that position as well. The opportunities are there and will be there for players both in training and in the games and it is just about taking these opportunities. 

READ MORE: Celtic's Paulo Bernardo praises 'intense' SPFL Premiership

On Paulo and Odin, you have worked with a lot of young players and brought them through your career. Are these two midfielders with a lot of potential who can reach the top level? What do you think?

It's all potential at the moment. When you want to be a top player the number one factor is having the mental strength to get there. The talent will take you to a certain point but it's the mentality to improve and develop your game that is important. Both of these guys in the short time I have seen them look like they want to develop.

You had a game in midweek and did not make many changes at the weekend. Is this a chance to make a few changes given the fact that there are so many games? Are you likely to go full strength or will there be changes?

We'll see. We will do our final preparations over the next couple of days. We will check to see how everyone is. The team we put out is always to find the result. It is a great game for us. On the back of a frustrating result for us. Our game was okay, it was a little bit slow up until the last 20 to 25 minutes then we sped up the game and showed our qualities. I've been in enough games when you have played at a high intensity in midweek and you come into your next game and you maybe can't quite get to that level. You can change the whole team but you lose fluidity. I think the guys will be recovered and we will go again on Wednesday. We have had a tough run of fixtures and there are never going to be wholesale changes and that's the reality but what we always expect is for the team to be full of speed and tempo. If we drop off those levels somewhere around the 60 to 65 minute mark we can make changes to maintain that and we just didn't do that from the off at the weekend. As I sit here, 10 games in with eight wins and two draws and a team that is still developing and improving with a really tough fixture list away from home then the guys have done really well, but we have got to keep pushing.

You mentioned you have got a packed fixture list. What kind of impact has that had on you in terms of how you approach the next few weeks? I suppose you will need to rely on that depth of squad that you have?

Yes. I think it is an exciting run of games. They're all challenges but those are the challenges that you want. You want to be playing in those big games and in the big competitions. For us, we just approach each game and look to bring our best level to the performance. Whoever is playing that is what is asked of them. The next game is St Mirren and it is a tough game for us. Stephen's (Robinson) team is very well organised. He always produced very competitive teams and they had a good result at the weekend. We are at home and we love to play at home and we'll get ready for it.

I wanted to get your thoughts on Stephen's job at St Mirren. What do you make of him so far?

I think he has proven himself to be an excellent manager/coach. When I was up here the first time he did a very good job with Motherwell. He got them to the League and the Scottish Cup finals and that was a fantastic achievement. His teams were always hard to play against. You look now coming into St Mirren and it is the same idea he has got them well organised. They are working very hard and you can see they are very much a team. They are always very competitive. He's an excellent manager and did really well. I look forward to seeing him on Wednesday and we will expect a tough match.

Is he someone that you’ve kept in touch with through the years, Stephen? Just keeping an eye on his progress?

Yeah, always. When I was down in the Premier League I still looked up here at the games, and especially managers that I’ve known. I’ve been really impressed by Stephen’s work over a number of years, and I’m delighted for him that he’s done ever so well at St Mirren also.

You’ve got six out of the nine league games at home. Obviously, you mentioned those really tough away games that you’ve got out of the way. Do you see this as a real chance to build on a lot of momentum here and consolidate on your lead?

I don’t really think that much about it, to be honest. I really do think of the next game, and that’s how we approached all of the tough away games that we had. You can’t forecast, because you never know. You know they’re tough venues to go to, but I tend to not look too far ahead. I do know we love playing at home when we’ve got the support behind us, but our focus is very much on our performance level. Once we bring that to the levels that we expect, then we know that we can be a really difficult team to play against with and without the ball. That’s our notion, to continue with that level and make it really challenging for teams to play against us.

READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers' Celtic are now better-equipped in Europe

Just going back to Reo, how is he? Obviously a big blow for him, he’s had a couple of injuries already this last year, the last six months. He seemed to be getting into really good form before it happened. Are you having to look at him psychologically as well, just to make sure he’s okay?

Yeah, I think it’s a disappointment for him. He’s had a bit of a broken start to this season. This will take him over the halfway point of the league. It’s very frustrating for him, especially someone who really commits himself to his game and his professionalism. Everything he does he tries to do right. He’s in a great place for that support, from the coaches, the manager to the medical team, the whole staff here will support him like we do with all the players. Hopefully, we can get him back sooner rather than later.

I know you said last week you were hoping to get to the bottom of it, because of the hamstring injury in his other leg towards the end of last season. So when he comes back he’s in the best possible position to keep going long-term?

That’s the ideal scenario. It’s just investigating everything that he’s doing outside of here as well as here and piecing it all together. There are also just unfortunately players that sadly their collagen means that they pick up lots of injuries and they can never stay fit. He’s a guy that’s come into the game late. He’s done fantastic when he’s been fit and available here for Celtic. I think it’s just a case of trying to look deeper into everything around his development and what he’s doing here and away from here just to see if there’s anything we can find out, because ideally you want your best players available, and he’s certainly one of our top players.

Brendan I just wanted to go back, you were touching on the first ten games, eight wins and two draws. You’ve been away to most of the big tough venues. Five points clear at the top. When you came in, you knew that there was going to be a bit of turnover in the squad, a lot of young players. Did you expect to have such a strong start to the season? Is that what you expected, because you know how high the standards are here, you’ve done it previously. Did you expect to have such a strong start?

Well, you always hope that that’s what you can produce. I knew it was always going to be a challenge for a variety of reasons but thankfully the players have been absolutely first-class since I’ve come in. I think their attitude to learning and development is absolutely superb. They’ve really impressed me in that aspect, with how diligent they are. they’re a very close group, their spirit is very strong. They’re great ambassadors for the club. I think that their humility is there to be seen in how they play and how they work and behave themselves. When you have a group of players like that, then you get new players coming in. Of course, that takes a bit of adaption but generally I’ve been really pleased, because you want to make a good start, and I think we’ve made a good start, but there are still 28 games left to go, and still a lot of exciting times ahead for us.