What fans might not have noticed about Celtic cruising a win at Motherwell

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Celtic’s win over Motherwell brought the usual chat as Brendan Rodgers’ team cruised to a 3-0 Scottish Premiership win at Fir Park.

There was a dubious penalty call, a red card and injury news for the Celtic fans to chew over in an afternoon that had almost everything for the Hoops support to talk about.

67 Hail Hail also discussed a bit of controversy from Motherwell manager, Stuart Kettlewell, as he denied the red card issued to Liam Gordon was clear-cut after the defender’s dangerous lunge at Celtic striker Adam Idah.

So there were plenty of talking points to mull over at full time but here, we discuss two things that Celtic fans may not have noticed in the 3-0 win over Motherwell.

What Brendan Rodgers did that kept Greg Taylor on the Celtic bench

Greg Taylor found himself back in the matchday squad for the Motherwell clash after the Celtic defender’s latest injury meant that Alex Valle was allowed a run in the team.

However, Taylor was passed fit for the game and found himself on the bench and many fans would have believed that the Celtic defender would have gotten some minutes in his legs.

Brendan Rodgers had other ideas after he made a subtle tactical switch to give Cameron Carter-Vickers a run out to get the Hoops defender some important minutes into his legs ahead of Celtic’s fixture against Dundee this week.

Rodgers pushed Liam Scales into the left-back position as Valle made way to allow Carter-Vickers to get 30 minutes of game time as he works his way back from his recent injury issue.

Taylor was left kicking his heels on the bench and could now face a battle to win his place back in the Celtic team.

How Paulo Bernardo fared in Callum McGregor’s Celtic role

After Celtic boss, Rodgers confirmed Callum McGregor’s injury, Luke McCowan and Paulo Bernardo were both drafted into the Hoops midfield alongside Reo Hatate.

McCowan was allowed to play the attacking role and the Portuguese midfielder was given the almighty task of filling in for the Celtic captain.

And whilst Bernardo didn’t have a bad game, the 23-year-old didn’t seem suited to a role that McGregor has made look easy over the past three seasons.

However, the positives for Bernardo are that even though he played that deeper role, he still managed to create two chances and made five passes into Motherwell’s final third as he tried to break through a defence that, at times, had nine men behind the ball. [Fotmob]

Bernardo is much more effective in the attacking midfield role and with McGregor expected to return for next weekend’s League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen, the young midfielder is likely to be deployed in the role where he was so effective for Celtic last season.