‘One or two’ – What Brendan Rodgers felt Celtic ‘could have done more’ vs Dundee United

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Brendan Rodgers was pleased with his Celtic side after they beat Dundee United on Wednesday evening.

The manager praised the “overlooked” defensive part of his squad’s game as they kept a clean sheet and built on that to score twice through Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate to win 2-0.

It was a comfortable Celtic victory over the Tangerines which was described by Jim Goodwin as a difficult night for his side who were bested for 90 minutes.

• READ MORE: BBC pundits say fans ‘weren’t happy’ with Celtic star minutes after coming on v Dundee United

Ever the perfectionist, though, Rodgers did point out one element of the game where he would have preferred more from his team in an attacking sense.

He wanted more from his creative players in the likes of Yang who replaced Nicolas Kuhn after he pulled out in the warmup.

Rodgers called for more crosses into the box at times which might have provided more opportunities to score against an opponent who defended for the majority of the action.

But he was satisfied with the points and the fact that a 16 point lead at the top of the Premiership was opened back up.

That was, before Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Dundee last night at Dens Park.

Rodgers wanted more crosses into the box from Celtic’s stars

“It was a really good win for us,” Rodgers said after the match.

“I thought that first-half we had a lot of good control in the game and got into good areas, maybe could have been more in front.

“Second-half for a little spell we lost a little bit of our attacking connection in the game so weren’t as fluid getting through the pitch.

“There was a spell we had to defend from direct free-kicks and long throws, but we came through that really well and finished off with the second goal and fully deserved to win.

“We were from the first whistle trying to impose ourselves onto the game and get into good areas.

“I thought we could maybe crossed it one or two more times than what we did do but the effort from the players, this is a game that’s very tight and there’s very few times you give little and get the rewards.

“You have to give everything and they got the rewards in the end, so I’m really pleased with that.”

Celtic’s win over Dundee United opened the title race gap further

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	21	18	2	1	57	7	50	56
2	RangersRangers	21	12	5	4	38	17	21	41
3	Dundee UtdDundee Utd	22	9	7	6	30	24	6	34
4	AberdeenAberdeen	21	10	4	7	32	30	2	34
5	MotherwellMotherwell	22	9	4	9	27	34	-7	31
6	ST MirrenST Mirren	22	8	3	11	27	37	-10	27
7	DundeeDundee	22	7	5	10	34	38	-4	26
8	HibernianHibernian	22	6	8	8	31	35	-4	26
9	KilmarnockKilmarnock	23	6	7	10	25	37	-12	25
10	Ross CountyRoss County	22	6	7	9	22	38	-16	25
11	Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian	22	6	5	11	25	31	-6	23
12	ST JohnstoneST Johnstone	22	4	3	15	24	44	-20	15

Rodgers brushed off Celtic fans dusting off the old songbook for players following his comments about “disrespect” of Greg Taylor after the game.

The fans had bit back at the Hoops boss by chanting for numerous former players – including Kieran Tierney.

He laughed it off and claimed “only the kitman missed out” on the tunes from the stands.