Asian Cup: Arnold happy not to buckle to Rogic’s club Celtic

Graham Arnold says he is comfortable with his decision not to buckle under pressure from Tommy Rogic’s club side Celtic.

Tommy Rogic is in Socceroos camp despite his club’s objections.

Graham Arnold says he is comfortable with his decision not to buckle under pressure from Tommy Rogic’s club side Celtic, who tried to delay the star midfielder’s arrival in the Socceroos’ Asian Cup camp.

Rogic arrived in Dubai after helping the Scottish giants beat Aberdeen 4-3 in a Scottish Premier League game on Wednesday morning, despite a request from Celtic that he stay back for the Old Firm clash with Rangers tomorrow night.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers argued that Rogic could have played against Rangers and still been in Dubai in plenty of time to prepare for Australia’s opening game against Jordan on January 6.

The same situation applied with Hibernian manager Neil Lennon, who wanted his trio of Australians — Mark Milligan, Jamie Maclaren and Martin Boyle — to be available for the match against Hearts on Monday morning (Australian time).

However, Arnold, who had already bent over backwards for a number of the players’ European clubs by allowing them to play on Boxing Day before bringing them into camp, said he would have made a rod for his own back by making one rule for some players and another for others.

“As far as I am concerned, it’s all over,” Arnold said yesterday. “You can’t please everyone.

“I have had managers ring me up and thank me for allowing the players to play that extra game and help them win those games. I made a lot of managers happy and some not so happy.

Rogic said he was disappointed to miss the Old Firm game.

“I’m very disappointed to be missing the game on the 29th,”he wrote on Instagram. “A decision has been made but I did everything in my power to stay for the match.

“I am a proud Australian but also love my club. It should never have been a debate between playing for club or country, ideally it would have been for both.

“Another challenge awaits in the Asian Cup, where I will give my all and proudly represent my country.”

Arnold, who has been a huge influence on Rogic’s career, said the most important thing was that the whole squad was now in camp.

“Tommy loves playing for Australia and for Celtic, but the simple fact is he could not be in two places at once,” he said.

Arnold now has more important things to worry about, including the fitness of attacker Mathew Leckie, who is under a cloud with a hamstring injury that reportedly could sideline him for three weeks.

“He is here and he is under the care of our medical staff. He will have a scan, we will look at it, treat him accordingly and see where he is at,” he said. “It is one step at a time, but Mathew is positive and we are positive.”

The Socceroos will play a friendly against Oman tomorrow.

Arnold said he would use the game to give every player minutes, especially those who have not played a club game since December 20.

“Oman will be important for us in terms of getting minutes for a lot of the players who have not played for a few weeks, the ones whose clubs are on winter breaks,” he said. “There will be wholesale changes in the game for both halves.

“All the players are fighting for places and it is their job to give me a lot of headaches (selection wise) for the first game.”