His position was untenable after Kev sided against him.
FAO of @Nembo_Kid - 4 minutes of Brendan’s post match press conference today was him eulogising “the blond Cafu” Stuart Armstrong.
He also played Downing for a year at Liverpool just to put him in the shop window. Let’s hope this is a similar ploy as Armstrong is awful.
Celtic are being linked with Swindon goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux. He was at Liverpool as a trainee when Rodgers was there and previously had a loan spell at Swindon too. This was cut short when he was fined £50 for something or other and paid it in pennies. De Vries has been shite and he’s old and Gordon has reclaimed the goalkeeper spot but I sense Rodgers isn’t fully convinced.
Brendan Rodgers is at the Swindon game today.
Did Lawrence play ?
Would Swindon be a step up from the domestic opposition in Scotland ???
I don’t know if I have ever watched a swindon game since Di Canio was gaffer so I can’t comment.
Sorry mate. I know you’re dying to find out
Moussa Dembele scored twice for France U21s tonight in a 3-2 win for them over England.
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Darlington Nagbe was definitely in attendance tonight anyway. @briantinnion please give us your thoughts on his strengths and weaknesses.
Scott Sinclair out for about a month with a hamstring injury.
He looks like a decent player who would be quite flexible across the midfield. We were also linked with Jordan Mutch at the start of the week.
Dale Stephens linked too. He’s out of contract at Brighton in the summer.
The usual well connected sorts are tweeting that the Nagbe deal has been agreed and he’ll sign for £1.5m in January.
Where does Stephens play? I think he got in a huff with Brighton in August when they blocked a move to the EPL. I’m guessing he’d prefer to play there next season whether with Brighton or someone else.
He plays in midfield, alongside Kayal.
Celtic have been drawn away to Albion Rovers or Queen of the South in the 4th round of the Scottish Cup.
The other main contenders will be involved in the following ties:
Bonnyrigg Rose or Dumbarton v Hibernian
Raith v Hearts
Aberdeen v Stranraer or East Kilbride
St Johnstone v Forres Mechanics or Stenhousemuir
Albion beat QoS 2-1 tonight
Bhoys, any thoughts about arrivals / departures during January and what specific areas need to be strengthened?
Rodgers took over a very bloated and unbalanced squad and managed to offload a fair few last summer. But the squad’s still too big and there’s a bit of deadwood floating around. He’s mentioned on numerous occasions of his preference for a 20-man squad + goalkeepers so I’m just going to see what the numbers look like at present:
Keepers: Gordon, De Vries, Bailly, Fasan. (4)
Defenders: Lustig, Gamboa, Tierney, Izaguirre, Sviatchenko, Simunovic, Touré, Boyata, O’Connell, Ambrose. (10)
Midfielders: Brown, Bitton, Armstrong, Henderson, McGregor. (5)
Attacking Midfielders: Sinclair, Forrest, Rogic, Roberts, Mackay-Steven, Christie, Commons. (7)
Strikers: Dembélé, Griffiths, Ciftci. (3).
I make that 25 outfield players excluding players out on loan like Saidy Janko and Scott Allan and the more promising development squad prospects like Ajer and Aitchison.
My own views on the positions are as follows:
Keepers: The De Vries signing hasn’t worked. He was bought to play the sweeper / keeper role (“other teams have 10 players and a goalkeeper, mine have 11 players” 
) but he looks immobile and past it. You could argue that it forced Gordon to adapt more and he’s been much better since reclaiming the spot. We don’t necessarily need to sign another goalkeeper in January but it’s probably on the more medium term list to get a younger and better one to provide Gordon with the challenge De Vries hasn’t.
Defenders: We have a capable enough back up for each full back but the list above shows 6 centre backs. We can therefore sell at least one of them in January, maybe two given Lustig can cover centrally too. I’d actually be happy to sell Ambrose and either O’Connell or Boyata. I don’t think O’Connell is good enough to be a long term option but he might be loaned out to see if he benefits from first team experience. Touré is good, experienced back up to the first choice pairing of Simunovic and Sviatchenko but a new summer signing in that position isn’t out of the question.
Midfielders: As mentioned before, I think this is the area that cost us in Europe this season. Brown has been absolutely brilliant but Bitton was an underwhelming partner for him in the earlier group games. Armstrong has replaced him and done very well over the last 4-6 weeks but he needs to play at this level consistently. McGregor is no more than a versatile back up and Henderson hasn’t yet kicked on like I hoped (and may not). I think we need to sign a quality all round midfield player like James McCarthy and I’d be willing to sell Bitton.
Attacking Midfielders: Sinclair, Rogic and either Forrest or Roberts have been the first choice combination for the 3 spots behind the lone striker and they’ve been very potent. Commons has been told he can leave on a free transfer, Christie has looked lightweight and Mackay-Steven only got his opportunity to play last week when Forrest joined Sinclair in the treatment room. His cameo against Manchester City was decent but he didn’t follow it up in the last two league games. I’d be okay with Commons leaving in January and either GMS or Christie or both joining him in the summer. They’ll probably be needed for squad depth for the second half of the season provided we don’t sign anyone in January. But we’ve been linked with Darlington Nagbe and a couple of other pacy attacking players so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a signing in this position.
Strikers: We only have three established strikers but we generally only start one of them. I’d retain Griffiths as Dembélé’s back up and I don’t think we’ll entertain any thoughts of selling Dembélé in January. It’s been hard to keep Griffiths happy in his reduced role but he’s a good goalscorer at SPFL level so we should retain him. I’d be happy to sell Ciftci but not sure if there’s any point in signing someone to be third choice striker for the moment - perhaps Aitchison could step if required. But with Dembélé likely to move on in the next 18-months then we should be aware of the need to sign a good striker in one of the two windows after the next one.
I’d also be happy to sell Janko and Allan at the conclusion of their loans next summer.
Overall, I think Celtic could sell 5 first team squad players in January (say Ambrose, Boyata or O’Connell, Bitton, Commons, Ciftci) and still have sufficient depth. I think it would be nice to sign a couple of players so they can establish themselves in the second half of the season and be ready for the crucial CL qualifiers next summer. I’d like us to focus on a central midfielder who can complement Brown and ultimately take over from him.
What do you think @Rocko, @Nembo_Kid, @thedancingbaby, @anon98850436?
My next post will be a one-line summary of the above.
Re above post: I think Celtic should try to offload 5 players in January (possibly Ambrose, Boyata or O’Connell, Bitton, Commons and Ciftci) and think we should try to sign a central midfield player and an attacking midfield player who can play centrally or wide.