Brendan Rodgers made it clear to his Celtic players after today’s win over St Johnstone that he doesn’t ever want to see a first-half performance like that again.
Rodgers was livid in post-match interviews, admitting he was still angry with his players despite eventually picking up a 3-1 win at McDiarmid Park.
The Bhoys found themselves behind at the break after some calamitous defending, summing up an uninspiring and lacklustre opening period.
At half-time, Rodgers reminded the team of the expectations on their shoulders and apparently got as furious as he has ever been in his career as a football manager, per his own words.
Brendan Rodgers delivers dressing room warning to Celtic stars
After the match, he didn’t let up, explaining that he doesn’t want to have to react like that again during his tenure as Celtic boss.
Rodgers stated [The Scotsman]: “I said to the players afterwards, don’t make me be like that again. Don’t ever make me feel I have to get to that level. My teams will normally be front-foot, demanding and constant, but that’s not acceptable. No matter what success they have had over the last couple of years, there is a demand at this club to continually succeed.
“Yes, we’re missing players and dynamic players but in the second half you see the levels they can get to.
“It’s comfort. It’s the biggest pitfall in succeeding, that you become timid and lose your aggression. It’s easily done, but it’s my job to guard against it. It was just nowhere near the level.”
Celtic fans were understandably worried at half-time today. While we did end up with a victory, it still wasn’t good enough and can’t be repeated.
It was heartening to hear Rodgers come out so strongly in the aftermath. It actually made me feel a little better about the direction Celtic are heading in. The manager sees the same things as we do.
If he didn’t, or the players weren’t responding to his methods, there’d be a much more serious problem brewing.
As it is, I hope we can just keep winning through this period of injuries and get to the winter break without any damage done.
After that, Celtic will hopefully be refreshed and strengthened via the transfer market, with Rodgers confident of doing ‘quality’ business.
In other news, The latest Celtic return timeline for Reo Hatate.
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