Brendan Rodgers tells Celtic critics, ‘I’m not to blame’ for Kyogo’s goal drought, as the star told why he isn’t scoring.

Kyogo hasn’t scored for the Hoops since a 6-0 victory over Aberdeen in November.

Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Kyogo Furuhashi will lead Celtic’s attack against Feyenoord – and has insisted that he is not to blame for the striker’s recent goal drought.

Rodgers benched the Japanese talisman for Kilmarnock’s shock defeat on Sunday, after leaving him out of the team for last week’s home win over Hibs. However, the Parkhead manager confirmed on Tuesday night that Kyogo will start his side’s final Champions League game of a disastrous season against the Dutch big guns in Glasgow’s east end.

And he dismissed any suggestion that his own tactical strategy was directly to blame for Celtic’s recent poor form, which has seen Kyogo net only once in the last ten games. When asked if Kyogo would replace Oh Hyeon-gyu in the attack, Rodgers said, “He will play. We have to be fair to Kyogo and some of the other boys as well. They can’t play in every single game. You lose that speed and intensity.

“Oh’s done well when he’s come into the game. A bit like Mikey, he gets his start and then obviously the team plays well against Hibs so you let that starting team start apart from Cameron Carter-Vickers with a view to making changes.

‘But you need a good squad and you need to give some relief to players, especially with him and the amount of work he gets through.”

Rodgers has been blamed for the drop in performance by deploying Kyogo in a deeper role than the one earmarked for him by former manager Ange Postecoglou. However, the manager retorted that Kyogo had disobeyed his orders.

“So there’s been nothing changed in that. There’s been absolutely nothing different asked of him because his strength is playing off the last line, timing his movements and being instinctive in the box.

“He’s not a dribbler, he’s not someone who does drop in. He can do it but it’s not his strength. And that’s always the challenge for a striker who wants to affect games. But he’s very receptive. He’s not a baby, remember, he’s 28 years of age.”

Rodgers also revealed that despite returning to training yesterday after injury layoffs, neither Cameron Carter-Vickers nor Daizen Maeda will make the squad for tonight’s match. “They won’t be involved tomorrow,” he said. Cameron trained this morning, but it’s probably too dangerous. He’ll be available this weekend.”

That means Nat Phillips, despite a shaky performance highlighted by an own goal in the Rugby Park defeat, is likely to start against the Eredivisie champions. However, Rodgers insists that the manager is solely to blame for the loss.

He said: “Listen, I think it is a collective. It can never be pointed at one player. I thought in the first half we played very well. We played with good speed and should have scored more than one goal.

“But from the very outset of the second half we didn’t play. If there is anyone to blame for the result, blame me. It is down to the manager to pick the team. No, it was a disappointing result.”

In other news, John Hartson believes a surprise with Reo Hatate is possible ahead of Celtic vs. Rangers.