Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has been giving his reaction to today’s 3-1 Scottish Premiership over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.
The Bhoys were made to work for their victory over Saints after going a goal behind just before the interval.
However, a pleasing comeback in the second half led to goals from Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley and James Forrest.
Rodgers made changes proactively. Substitutes such as Mikey Johnston and Hyeongyu Oh made a big impact on the fixture, which hopefully bodes well for them earning starting opportunities soon.
For the manager, the performance in the first half was far from good enough.
Brendan Rodgers fuming with Celtic first half vs St Johnstone
Visibly annoyed on Sky Sports post-match, he said: “It was a really good reaction in the second half. It was probably the angriest I’ve ever been at half time in my career as a manager. The first half was nowhere good enough for this club. The intent, the mentality, too comfortable, it was nowhere near it.
“The second half was what I would expect. Much better energy and tempo to the game. Callum McGregor was absolutely brilliant in the second half. His goal sparked the reaction.
“Some players want to be too comfortable and just do enough. It’s not enough at this club. You have to have that mentality and intensity from the first whistle. But as I said the reaction was really good.”
It was a good interview from the manager and his comments will chime with many Celtic supporters. That first half truly was a shocker.
Thankfully the players fought to dig themselves out of a hole. It would be much more concerning had we not witnessed that in Perth.
It’ll now be interesting to see if Rodgers makes any changes to his team against Hibernian on Wednesday. Whoever is missing will have clearly dropped below the standards set by the Celtic boss.
In other news, The latest Celtic return timeline for Reo Hatate.
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