Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers wasn’t happy with his team’s first-half performance away to Ross County on Sunday.
A goal down at the interval thanks to a Ronan Hale penalty, Celtic had to dig themselves out of a hole in Dingwall.
Alistair Johnston prodded home the equaliser after 76 minutes before Nicolas Kuhn scored a wonderful winner 11 minutes later for a 2-1 victory.
The win ensured that the Bhoys stay top of the Scottish Premiership table going into the international break, maintaining a 100% record alongside Aberdeen.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  CelticCeltic | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 21 | 21 |
| 2 |  AberdeenAberdeen | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 21 |
| 3 |  RangersRangers | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
| 4 |  MotherwellMotherwell | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 13 |
Rodgers did publicly praise his Celtic players in the aftermath for showing a fighting spirit to pick up the win despite going a goal behind.
However, he was also irked by the way his team went about their business in that opening period, feeling they were far too passive up against a physical County side.
The Bhoys boss has now shared the pointed message he aimed at the team in the dressing room at half-time to get a reaction out of them.
Brendan Rodgers fires up ‘ponderous’ Celtic display vs Ross County
Speaking in a post-match press conference, the manager said: “In the first half we were too slow and too passive. It wasn’t very good. We’re a team that can never look for an easy game. It just looked a little bit ponderous and a bit slow and we didn’t create enough.
“We’re a running team, it’s a running game that we play. Once we start to do that, then the game looks different. Ross County have started the season really well, making it difficult for teams. We knew we had to work really hard to get through.
“It’s a Celtic tradition, isn’t it? It’s how the game is played at this club. We had thousands of fans turn up in Dortmund. They’ve seen what they’ve seen, which wasn’t great, but they gave us great support at the end of the game.
“Now they’re having to come up here for a 12 o’clock kick-off. So the very least you can do is run your heart out right to the very end. That’s what this club’s about. It’s the fabric of this club. You keep going to the end.
“I said that at half-time. If you’re looking for an easy game or you’re feeling sorry for yourself, whatever it is, it’s not enough. We have to go and impose our way of playing and get the energy back into the game again. And then, obviously, in the second half, we were much better. It’s a great start for us, seven wins out of seven.”
Celtic showed their champion material in the end
The manager was also quick to point out that his team did show good resilience in the end to win their points.
He added: “In the aftermath of the midweek game, I said I’ve got absolutely 100 per cent confidence in the resilience of this team. That’s all about grit and determination and fight and we had that in the bucket loads. We had to show that and the players did.
“We’ll learn from the game today because the new guys coming in will see that there’s no easy game and you can’t look for it either. You’ve got to do the work and over the course of the 90 minutes we did the work and got the result.”
This is still a developing group, and Rodgers knows there’s improvement to come. These difficult away days in the Premiership will happen.
What’s most important is that Celtic show the right traits to keep winning and keep the teams around them at arm’s length. They passed that test again on Sunday.
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