After watching his side demolish St Johnstone Brendan Rodgers was in top form as he met the media following his side’s 6-0 victory to return to top place in the SPFL Premiership table.
Three goals in each half that had the signature of the manager all over them left the visiting fans delighted as they prepared for Tuesday’s anticipated clash away to Borussia Dortmund.
Judging the level that Celtic are playing at is almost impossible against feeble domestic opponents but the hoops played in much the same style in their Champions League opener against Slovan Bratislava.
Celtic won’t be gung-ho on Tuesday night but will play in a measured fashion looking to exploit weaknesses in their opponents- much like the tactics of Rodgers in his media conference.
Early on while discussing the quality of the performance Rodgers opted to bring up comments from a year ago when his side was toiling much progress, turning in laboured performances typified by a 0-0 home draw against St Johnstone 11 months ago.
No one in the media conference opted to pick up on that comment, things went eerily quiet but there was plenty of positive grounds for the Celtic boss to pick up on as well as a critical comment on Alan Muir’s VAR intervention.
Perfect performance to take to Dortmund?
Rodgers: Yeah, we’re in a really good way. I think mostly for me, the performance level is something that I always concentrate on. And obviously the consequence of that would be results. But I look at the rhythm in the team, I look at the speed in the team, I look at the hunger in the team.
Yeah, listen, we’re going to play a top team in their home patch. But I’m really excited to see how we can play against it. They’re a very good side, got really good players. But for us, we can go there, impose our style in the game.
And I always say, in every game we play, as long as we try and we press and we attack and we fight, let’s see where it takes us.
Great start to the season, 33 goals in nine matches?
Yeah, not bad for a team that doesn’t play good football. I think that’s what we were told last year, wasn’t it? I think that was the accusation. We were too slow and we didn’t play football and we didn’t score enough goals. And so it’s not bad for a team that’s not playing good football.
Greg Taylor substitution, injury?
Rodgers: Yeah, we had Greg that just felt a tightness in his calf in the first 15 minutes. So just precautionary, we take him off and put Alex in. And yeah, we hope that he should be fine. And obviously, it just allowed us to manage some of the other players as well.
Will Carter-Vickers fly to Germany?
Rodgers: I don’t know. I’ll know tomorrow. See where he’s at. And then we’ll go on Monday. And if he’s not available then, OK. Auston Trusty came in. I thought he was excellent tonight. You’ve seen his pace, you’ve seen his power. He’s playing off that right side, but he’s got good balance in his game. And I thought he did very, very well. So if Cam’s not available, then we have someone that can come straight in.
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