Brendan Rodgers has been making a key point to his Celtic stars in his initial weeks at the club.
Rodgers is firmly back in the Celtic hot-seat after rejoining the club in June. Since then, he has met his new players, travelled to Portugal and Japan with them, and started the Premiership season with a victory.
Celtic weren’t at their top level during Saturday’s win over Ross County, but there were some stand-out performances, especially from the previously unfancied David Turnbull.
The Scotland international featured little last season but is already the league’s top scorer after netting a double against County. His return to the team underlines a key message Rodgers has been making this summer.
“The point I made to the players is that it is a new cycle for them,” Rodgers said in a fresh Celtic TV interview.
“It’s not a continuation. It’s a new cycle, a new manager. A lot of the principles will be the same but there will be changes within that. So whatever you’ve done in the past, it doesn’t really matter.
“I respect that of course. But if we’re to continue being successful it’s really about proving the point from now.
“So I then look at the energy of players, the attitude of players, as well as that technical and tactical quality.”
From that, it’s fair to assume that Rodgers has been pretty impressed with the attitude of Turnbull, and perhaps a little less so with Reo Hatate.
Alexandro Bernabei and Liel Abada are two other previously unfancied stars who may well benefit from the clean slate Rodgers has brought about.
It’s an important message he’s preaching, and one that is unlikely to bring about any negatives for Celtic.
We are the treble holders but you get the impression that hasn’t even been mentioned at Lennoxtown since Rodgers arrived. It’s all about what happens from here.
The players will have their post-playing days to look back at their glorious trophy wins.
In other news, Tom Rogic is still without a club as a brand new season gets underway
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