BRENDAN Rodgers believes there are many Premiership players with enough talent to play for Celtic but they lack the attitude and work ethic required to make it at the Scottish champions.
The Northern Irishman agreed “150 per cent” with Tommy Burns’ belief that playing for Celtic was much more difficult than playing against them. This is because being a Celtic player takes maximum effort every day, which does not happen at other clubs.
Rodgers said while he had spotted lots of good players in Scottish football, raw ability wasn’t enough.
“In some ways, there’s not a big difference in terms of players,” Rodgers said. “I’ve seen a number of players up here who could probably play for Celtic. Then when you ask about them, the mentality’s not there. The big difference is mentality.
“Some players up here will be as quick as our boys, equally as skilful, but when it comes to it, how are they mentally?
“It’s tough but it’s because they can’t cope with the demands every day, to lead the life – diet, nutrition, preparation, concentration, drive, resilience. This is what it takes when you want to play for the big club. You can have lazy days somewhere else.”
Should Celtic avoid losing to Hearts at Tynecastle this afternoon, their record unbeaten domestic run will reach 70 games and Rodgers puts that down to the strong mentality that exists within his squad which does not allow the standards to drop even in training.
“The players are putting it in every single day so when they go into a game and are asked the question, they know they have been training to the greatest extent, so are ready for it,” the Celtic manager said.
“You have to have that resolve, and the mindset we have given them over the last 18 months is that you never leave a game early. You keep fighting to the very end."
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