Kyle Vassell states what Celtic fans were doing in the stands during win v Kilmarnock

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Brendan Rodgers provided some clear indicators to Celtic fans in the Scottish Cup over the weekend.

Celtic beat Kilmarnock to progress to the fifth round, with Rodgers playing his strongest possible XI ahead of the crucial Champions League clash against Young Boys.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the XI is unchanged on Wednesday night at Parkhead, with the Bhoys putting in a strong attacking display against Killie.

Callum McGregor was surprised post-match because he felt Celtic should have won by a bigger scoreline.

Yes, the skipper opened the scoring with a driving finish from the edge of the box, but the home side missed big chance after big chance.

Somehow, Celtic went into the break level, before Daizen Maeda scored the winner and Kyle Vassell, who is Kilmarnock’s captain, shared an interesting insight into it all.

Kyle Vassell on Kilmarnock going man-for-man against Celtic

Vassell was sidelined, so he was sitting in the stands with the Celtic supporters and he talked about his side’s tactics.

As everyone saw, Derek McInnes’ side were very aggressive, high up the pitch and in the faces of the Celtic players.

That is because Kilmarnock went man-for-man and Vassell, even though he wasn’t on the pitch, explained that he loves that kind of tactic, as he told Open Goal.

On Killie’s manager telling them they are going man-for-man against Celtic: “Boys like me are licking my lips because I know if we can get after them, win the ball back, then you get a few chances and we scored,” said Vassell

“I prefer that, then a low block. In a low block, you are just sat in your half all game. Some big boys want a bit more protection. The boys (fullbacks) were unbelievable against Kuhn and Maeda.

“He (Maeda) is so good. You defend him eight times and once he gets past you, and unfortunately, he scores.”

Celtic fans ‘hammering’ players during Scottish Cup win

It wasn’t so long ago that Brendan Rodgers was critical of the Celtic fans for getting restless during the win over St Mirren.

Just before McGregor scored, Vassell stated that the Parkhead faithful were ‘hammering’ the players from the stands.

But then the goal changed everything, even though he felt that his side had something in the game.

“The first 15 minutes, before the goal, I was sitting up with the Celtic fans,” shared Vassell. “They were hammering the players. We really got them. We got them on the back foot.

“Obviously, goals change games and the goal kind of settled them down. I thought we had them.”