Celtic toppled Ross County in convincing fashion earlier today despite some horrific weather conditions at the Global Energy Stadium.
Pre-match, Brendan Rodgers confirmed the Bhoys had one fit winger to face the Staggies after Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn were ruled out due to injury.
Luis Palma missed the match with a bereavement, leaving Kyogo Furuhashi as the man who seemingly was set to play wide right with Hyunjun Yang on the other side.
However, the Japan international ended up almost in a free role behind Adam Idah, coming in and out of his berth to score a double in Celtic’s 4-1 victory over Ross County in the Highlands.
Tactically, Rodgers executed his plan to perfection, with Arne Engels and Luke McCowan on hand to put some gloss on the scoreline. Here is what he thought of proceedings after the Bhoys claimed another vital win in their hunt for Scottish Premiership glory.
Rodgers: Celtic mentality shone through in Ross County victory
Speaking live on Sky Sports, Rodgers was delighted with the mentality his side showed in Dingwall despite the Bhoys having to deal with mounting injury problems in the final third.
He stated: “Very, very pleased, we should’ve been more goals in front at half time, but scored a very, very good goal and then second half, obviously, the goal comes from us giving the ball away from a throw in a few minutes earlier.
“Then we have to find that resilience we spoke about before the game. You see the players, they kept going and in games like today, you’ve got to find a way to win.
“Really, really cold day, the pitch (was) bobbly and bumpy, you just have to find that mentality to get through the game and the players showed a fantastic mentality and ended up really good winners in the end.”
Rodgers continued: “As I said beforehand, you can’t wait for the perfect situation. The weather, the pitch and everything else.
“The effort and the mentality of the team to just keep going, keep trying to find a way, some players out that have been really creative players for us, but we still end up with four goals and playing well on a really, really difficult day.”
Brendan Rodgers explains Kyogo Furuhashi tactical tweak
Singling his star striker out for special praise, Rodgers admitted he deployed Furuhashi in an unfamiliar role to try and compensate for the loss of goalscorers due to injury.
The Irishman added: “It’s having goalscorers on the pitch, with so many goalscorers out, it was trying to find a way to release him to find the width but be on the outside at times.
“You see his goal, it was a fantastic header and it comes from a great run. That’s what he does, he wants to run forward, he wants to score goals and it was a brilliant header. I thought all round he adapted to that position really, really well.”
Furuhashi was in fantastic form today, taking his tally to 12 goals for the season. In a week where Celtic have faced speculation linking the striker with an exit from the club, there can be no doubt that he is an indispensable cog in his machinery.
Tactically, Rodgers deserves major credit for negating concerns over a lack of available wide players. In turn, the man in question will hog the headlines after a talismanic display that helped his side over the line.
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