Rodgers sees 'no great change' in Ferguson's Rangers

Brendan Rodgers sees "a lot of the same traits" in Rangers under Barry Ferguson with his side "hungry" to put right the city bragging rights after Celtic's 3-0 January defeat to the side then led by Philippe Clement.

Midfielder Callum McGregor is an injury doubt for Rangers' visit on Sunday, but the Celtic manager will "wait until the very last moment" to make a decision about his captain.

Rodgers' reigning champions are 16 points clear of their derby rivals in the Scottish Premiership, but he points out that: "This is Celtic-Rangers and it's not a game you want to lose, no matter how far in front you are."

The gap was down to 11 after Celtic suffered that three-goal loss, but the "very good" response from Rodgers' side and their rivals' continued inconsistency under Clement led to the Belgian being sacked.

Under interim head coach Ferguson, Rangers again have saved their best for games away from home and in the Europa League, beating Kilmarnock and Fenerbahce but losing to the Turks and Motherwell at Ibrox.

"I don't know Barry, but I know him as a player and I know that he's gone in and he'll have a great connection with his supporters," Rodgers said of the former Rangers captain.

"His history at the club, his success at the club - he was a fantastic player for them. For me, if I look purely at the coaching aspect of it, over the course of four games, I don't see great change.

"I've seen the team change the system. Absolutely, a really good tactical change to go 5-4-1 at Fenerbahce. But I still see a lot of the same traits - some very good performances, some inconsistencies."

Rodgers expects any changes made by Ferguson and his backroom staff to be judged over a longer "period of time", but "whether he was in for four games or 40 games, a Celtic-Rangers game will always be a tough game".

The Celtic manager is not reading anything, whether it be fatigue or confidence, into the fact that Rangers needed extra time and penalties to defeat Fenerbahce after losing 2-0 at home before progressing in the Europa League.

Rodgers recalled a time when his Leicester City side faced an "exhausting" schedule before facing a more rested "peak Liverpool" but still emerged victorious.

He said "it's congratulations to Rangers" for reaching the quarter-finals, but the Celtic manager suggested "it shows the consistency and mentality" of his own team to be so far in front of such opponents in the title race.

"We never performed anywhere near what the demand of the game was in the last game," Rodgers said. "So we're very hungry to put that right in this game."

As for McGregor's niggling injury, he added: "It's following the same sort of pattern as last week and Callum came in, played 75 minutes and was brilliant last weekend."

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