What David Martindale privately admitted to Brendan Rodgers about Celtic’s starting lineup vs Livingston

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David Martindale’s Livingston were soundly beaten by Celtic at the weekend.

Brendan Rodgers named a much-changed Celtic starting lineup to help rest players for the Champions League play-off tie with Kairat Almaty tomorrow evening.

Whilst the lineup may well have given Celtic supporters cause for concern, it appears that Livingston boss David Martindale may well have underestimated the Hoops fringe players.

Especially after what Brendan Rodgers has shared what he said privately to him about Celtic’s back-up players.

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David Martindale was ‘surprised’ at how good Celtic’s back-up players are

Celtic eventually beat Livingston 3-0 after a dogged first-half performance from Martindale’s team meant both sides went in at the break 0-0.

However, Celtic ramped up the style and the pace and comprehensively beat Livingston and Martindale told Rodgers what ‘surprised’ him about the defeat.

Rodgers said in the Daily Record, “I was really pleased with the guys at the weekend who had come in and played.

“Some of them hadn’t played for a little while. I think some of the connections weren’t quite there but that’s natural.

“We had players coming in for their first game and were new to the system. But in the main, I thought the level of performance was good.

“I spoke to David after the game and he was actually surprised how good we were considering all the changes. It gives us great options going into the game tomorrow night.”

What David Martindale admitted to Livingston TV about facing Celtic

Speaking after the match, Martindale was gutted after he spilled the beans what he really thought of the Celtic defeat on Livingston TV.

Martindale said, “I’m glad I’m not back for a while. It’s difficult. Folk think that’s easy [shutting up shop].

“Is that how I want to play football? No, not really. Not really. But you’ve got to find a balance between a Ferrari and a Mini.

“The team that came here midweek, they’ve not got the same finances Celtic have got but that’s not a shape or system I want to play.

“But you can see the quality they’ve got. People are looking at it going they’ve made loads of changes but I think that’s a wee bit of an understatement because the players that are coming in [for Celtic], I’m taking any one of them.”

Martindale went on to say that he would have taken Celtic youngster Dane Murray ‘in a heartbeat’ if the opportunity ever arose.

That just proves that whilst Celtic fans still want the team strengthened, there is still quality in the squad that is the envy of other SPFL managers.