Mark Devlin 
Charles McQuillan/Getty Images Sport
Brendan Rodgers has stated that he is not in the market for another centre-back, despite being a couple of defenders down going into Saturday’s game against Hearts.
The Hoops advanced to the Champions League playoff round after a 1-0 win over Norwegian champions Rosenborg midweek, and had to do so with Nir Bitton slotting in at centre-half due to Sviatchenko’s injury 25 minutes into the game.
Though despite both Sviatchenko and Belgian Dedryck Boyata being out injured, Rodgers has said that there’s plenty of options for the role.
As quoted by The Herald, the Irishman gave his reasons as to why he’s content with the current set-up at the back.
H said:
We won’t be getting someone in. We have Bitton who can play there.
It depends. If we are talking about Scottish football and the ball getting smashed up the pitch, then you can have two big guys who can head it. But we are not playing that way.
We can cope. We have Ajer who’s 6ft 5ins, but he can play. We’ll have Boyata back in September, Lustig can play there. We don’t need to worry about centre half.
The Hoops boss also spoke highly of Nir Bitton and praised his performance last Wednesday night, despite him being played out of his usual central midfield role.
It was the Israeli’s first appearance of the season, who fell out of favour after the emergence of Stuart Armstrong into the team in a central role.
Rodgers lauded the 25-year-old, saying:
That’s just what he is and what we expect from him. He’s a very, very good player. He’s a controlling player but in that role we have Brown, and we have Kouassi, who is a big talent.
But I like to have a midfielder who can play centre half. That allows the team to play through and get more attackers on the field. He’s top class in his work.
He’s very good for our squad, he can play a number of positions and he understands how I want to work. He’s someone the players like and showed his importance the other night.
The champions kick-off their domestic campaign this Saturday and host Edinburgh opposition Hearts in the early kick-off at 12:30.
The draw for the Champions League playoff round takes place tomorrow at 11am UK time.
