Brendan Rodgers Reveals Injury Setback for Defensive Duo

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers revealed pre-match against Falkirk that two defenders missed out on today’s Game due to injury setbacks.

With five substitutions made midweek against Slovan Bratislava late in the second half, it appears that some of these changes were made as precautions.

Rodgers said: (Celtic TV), “We’ve got a few changes that are enforced, so Cam (Carter-Vickers) and Ali (Johnston) are players who have been dealing with some niggles, particularly Cam. It’s a chance for us to give them a break, so for them, it’s enforced.”

Speaking to Premier Sports ahead of the Game, Rodgers went into greater detail.

He said: “So, Ali Johnston’s had a bit of a niggle for a wee bit of time, so he had an injection, so he has a rest, and then he’ll start training with us midweek next week. And then we’ve got Cameron Carter-Vickers; Cam has had an issue with his foot for a few weeks, and he’s been having injections, but it didn’t feel great for him in the Game during the week.

“He’s so brave and he’s so courageous; he wants to play, but we just felt this was a chance to offload it and give him that chance to hopefully recover.”

It appears that Johnston’s setback isn’t as extreme as Carter-Vickers’, with Rodgers putting a timescale on his return for midweek next week.

Unlike Carter-Vickers, who he wasn’t as certain about a time period, Rodgers mentioned Johnston’s character, highlighting that the USA international will play even when other players wouldn’t be willing.

However, Rodgers will manage his fitness.

It may be a case of patience for the Celtic support, with the Irishman likely to update on Carter-Vickers’ condition at next week’s pre-match press conference.