Chris Davies Hired As Rodgers Assistant

CHRIS DAVIES insists Cedric Kipre’s Hampden cruncher could have WRECKED Moussa Dembele’s career.

The Celtic No2 reckons Dembele was lucky to escape serious injury after the Well star’s lunging tackle in Sunday’s Betfred Cup Final.

Davies said: “The more you watch it back, the worse it gets. Could it have been a career-wrecker? Absolutely.”

Referee Craig Thomson failed to even award Celtic a free-kick for Kipre’s over-the-ball tackle on Dembele’s ankle.

But the French striker is now out of the Fir Park clash and could miss Celtic’s third meeting in seven days with Well at Parkhead on Saturday.

He is also a doubt for next week’s vital Champions League showdown with Anderlecht.

Davies said: “With a bit of luck Moussa’s avoided that situation of a long-term injury. Physically he’s strong. Hopefully he won’t be out for too long.

“He’s got a swollen ankle. It was a very poorly-timed tackle, so we’ll have to see how he goes. He’s had a bad twist to the ankle, but it could have been much, much worse. Thankfully for him, it’s not.

“It’s early stages with the swelling. We’ll wait for that to go down. After 72 hours you can start to get a clearer picture on a twist.

“But it’s not a long-term thing. Hopefully he’ll be OK.”

Dembele was booked moments later for his own rash tackle on Carl McHugh before scoring a controversial 59th-minute penalty which saw Kipre sent off for his challenge on Scott Sinclair.

Davies emphatically defended Sinclair over accusations of diving, but stopped short of confirming the attacker would start at Fir Park.

The Hoops assistant, who hinted Brendan Rodgers will make a number of changes, said: “We haven’t spoken about the incident. For us it was a penalty, as the manager said after the game.

“Scott’s been up here for 16 months and is a player who isn’t known for these types of incidents.

“There WAS contact, there WASN’T an attempt to play the ball, he WAS pulled down, he went down.

“I’m not worried about referees taking this view of Scott. He’s a very honest and hard-working player, a great role model for young players.

“It’s not Scott’s fault that the guy has made that action. It’s not Scott’s fault that the ref has sent him off.

“It’s not a genuine attempt to play the football. It’s a red card. I thought it was a very good decision in that respect.

“In general I thought the referee had a very good game.”

Davies warned Well that the Invincibles — 65 domestic games unbeaten and four successive trophies — will meet any fire with fire.

Comparing boss Rodgers with Sir Alex Ferguson, he added: “Our mentality will be, if it is possible, to bring a bigger intensity to the game, bring more quality to the game, bring our performance level up. So that, in the event theirs increased, we’d still be ahead.

“Sir Alex Ferguson went on to be a very successful manager and Brendan has that same hunger and desire.”

 

Really like the way Davies comes across, he's got that wee arrogant streak that total confidence in your work brings..

When BR leaves after the 10 wouldn't be adverse to breaking up him and BR and giving him a shot at the no1 role.

Maybe with Brownie and JK as the backroom staff.

Sent from my HTC Desire 530 using Tapatalk

 

Chris speaking about his reaction to the away goal at Astana

 

Chris is a great guy will make a top manager someday I'm sure

 

CD on Marvin Compper: "He fits our profile of a centre-half, our style. It's not done yet so I won't talk too much about a player that isn't ours."

CD: "I don't envisage January being particularly busy for us. We'll recruit where needed and some players may move on as the squad evolves. We have a strong squad with good players but we're always looking to improve.

CD on loss to Hearts: "If we win a trophy, everyone is on the podium and we celebrate together; that's our culture. The reason that happens is because we also share the setbacks together. The strength of our group is our spirit."

CD: "We set a new record and that wasn't because of a particular player, it was our togetherness."

CD: "If you play for a big club, you're going to be under scrutiny. There's huge expectations and pressure to perform in every position. That scrutiny will be on the defenders when you lose but there's no one position responsible for our successes or our setbacks.

CD: "We've lost one domestic game in 70. We've had a very good season so far, reaching all our objectives. We've stayed top, secured European football after Christmas and won a trophy."

CD: "The manager came up here to dominate and we've won every trophy available domestically so far. We didn't think we'd break Celtic or British records but we wanted to dominate."

CD: "Our mentality means we don't need a loss to make us react. We want to be at our very best every game. We'll give everything we can and hopefully our reaction will be reflected in the score-line tomorrow."

CD: "Every game we play we have one or two changes so that's normal. It can be based on physical condition or tactics, so it's natural to make a few changes."

CD on squad fitness: "@Tom_Rogic and @patrick7roberts are obviously out. @SimunovicJozo has a slight knock but we'll see."

 

Que the Talkceltic meltdown...

he isnt obvsiously going to say we want 4 or 5 players, lets see what month brings!

 

He should know better.

 

Teams like us will always have to say we aren’t going to be busy, clubs could take advantage if we were trying to buy their player and knew we were a bit desperate, and the media would be selling our entire team.

Compper will not be our only defender coming in I can guarantee that, but hopefully we get a bit more in as we really need to kick on now

 

Simunovic has a slight knock...to his confidence?

 

No.

 

To the remaining length of his Celtic career

 

CD on transfer news: "The squad has demonstrated over the last 18 months that it’s a strong squad. To improve upon that, it’s a certain quality of player we need."

CD: "I understand the fans are eager to here some news because ultimately they want the very best for the club and that’s how we feel. We share that same vision. Hopefully we can add to the squad between now and the end of the window."

CD on @ThistleTweet: "We are looking forward to it. It’ll be a difficult game because they’ve got a good coach and players."

CD on #ScottishCup draw: "I think a home draw is a good draw. Happy with that. Tough game, will take nothing for granted."

 

So Chris to improve a strong squad you need players of a certain quality well son tell congerton and Brendan John McGinn and Jack Hendry don’t fall into that category!

Brendan seems determined but it’s just recycled quotes from a year ago from all concerned.

 

What a gem of an assistant manager been impressed with him since day 1