Brendan Rodgers explains his off-the-record Celtic briefing with journalists

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There were interesting notes about Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers’ media handling in the Scottish press this morning.

As we discussed, The Daily Record reported that the Bhoys boss held a half-hour tactical meeting with reporters on Tuesday ahead of the match against Dundee.

He presented video to the group with goals from this season and previous campaigns analysed.

It appears Rodgers was trying to provide evidence that the tactical style employed this term is not all too different to what we witnessed under Ange Postecoglou – despite significant criticism to the contrary.

Brendan Rodgers on his Celtic meeting with journalists

Asked by Sky Sports about the briefing earlier today, Rodgers explained the situation and shared that it was all actually supposed to be off the record.

The Celtic manager said: “No, listen it wasn’t a ‘masterclass’. I’ve been here now since July and all I’ve heard is about the change in style and the change in system – the change in lots of things.

“I just felt it was probably worth pointing out that absolutely nothing has changed in terms of system, in terms of style and what’s been asked.

“Obviously, of course, you need evidence to show that. So it was just a case of an off-the-record football chat with some of the guys that had turned up.

“I said to them a few weeks back that I would do it because they, on a number of occasions, have brought up the style. I’ve heard players’ positions have changed and none of that has happened. So it was just to demonstrate and show some evidence of that.”

Everyone will make up their own mind on whether the football we’ve seen this season is similar to what came in the previous two seasons. For me, personally, it’s been well below that kind of relentless entertainment.

However, Rodgers may feel this has more to do with reduced quality in the squad rather than him asking his players to do anything different from that era.

Clearly, he is not happy with some of the discussion around his team in the press and at media conferences.

The best way to silence any critics is to find consistency in performance and we’re all hoping we see that with Sunday’s trip to Tynecastle.