Celtic had to work hard for the three points at Kilmarnock today with a professional job against Derek McInnes’ side.
Brendan Rodgers made two changes to his Celtic side that beat RB Leipzig and it looked like that Champions League performance took a lot out of his team.
Celtic huffed and puffed against a Kilmarnock team who made life difficult at Rugby Park and had it not been for the performance of Kasper Schmeichel, this result could have been a lot more difficult for the Hoops to earn.
Speaking after the match, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers praised his team for their dogged performance and hailed the big Dane for his ‘busy’ Rugby Park day.
Brendan Rodgers hails ‘busy’ Kasper Schmeichel in Celtic’s win over Kilmarnock
The Celtic boss was delighted to see his team see out the win at Kilmarnock and now back at the top of the league Rodgers hailed his team for seeing out two hard games in a week before the international break kicks in.
Rodgers told Sky Sports, “Very. Two totally different games, more fighting football and what you got to contend with.
“But I thought the players were absolutely brilliant in how they defend pressure because they know build-up comes quite directly from behind.
“So you got to stand up and be counted for the long balls and long throws and everything else, and the players have shown this week that they can deal with all types of games. So today was absolutely brilliant, brilliant win for us, and showed another side to us.
“We had a couple other chances to be more convincing but we knew also we had to defend well and needed Kasper to make some good saves.
“He was busy but he was also busy for us with the ball and how he could play through the pressure really, really helped us.
“We could break their lines and get through, but when it’s that pressure that’s coming up into your box and you have to defend it, then of course, you’re going to need your goalkeeper and your centre halves to defend well and I thought they did that fantastically well.”
Celtic’s next Scottish Premiership fixture after the international break
Celtic can now rest and relax and get themselves together for the next two weeks as the international break kicks in.
Brendan Rodgers will now look forward to Celtic’s next fixture when the league resumes on the 23rd of November.
Another tricky fixture awaits Celtic as a trip to Tynecastle to face Neil Critchley’s Hearts faces Rodgers as he looks to pile on more misery on the capital clubs this season.
Hearts are struggling and at the time of writing, sit second-bottom of the Scottish Premiership table with just nine points from 36.
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