Bullish Brendan Rodgers on benching Celtic star Reo Hatate - 'it’s not in my contract to play any player'

Brendan Rodgers has had little need to reinvent the wheel after inheriting a winning Celtic team from Ange Postecoglou but that doesn’t mean he’s not still applied a few of his own modifications here and there.

A familiar-looking opening day line-up contained one notable change, that of Reo Hatate adorning the substitutes bench with David Turnbull handed a rare start.

Rodgers doesn’t seem to have fallen out with Hatate, and there’s every chance the Japanese will feature more often in the weeks ahead, but it was certainly a message both to the 25-year-old and to the squad at large that there’s a new sheriff in town who won’t stint on making unpopular decisions if he has to.

“It’s not in my contract to play any player,” said Rodgers bullishly. “It’s a new cycle, a new manager and he (Hatate) has to prove himself. I’m not really worried about what’s said or not, I’ll play the team I see with the best energy, mentality and efficiency with how we want to work.

Celtic's Reo Hatate was benched for the 4-2 win over Ross County in the opening Scottish Premiership match of the season. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

“There’s no doubt Reo is a talented player, but there are other talented players in the squad. If players aren’t playing, I’ve been open and honest with them about where we’re at, how I prepare a team, when I tell them the team, and when they’re not playing how they’ve got to respond.

“Reo’s been really good in training. He didn’t play but he came into the game. He knows areas he needs to work on to play for me, and the structure of how I work. He’s responded really well in training and will absolutely be a player we need over the course of the season.”

The Japanese midfielder didn’t really hide his disappointment on the sidelines – call it his resting pitch face – after being accustomed to starting most weeks under the previous regime. Rodgers, though, has no problem with players being annoyed at being dropped.

“Look, you never expect players to be happy if they are not playing,” added the manager. “That’s just the way Reo is too. Even before a ball was kicked I could see he has that style and way about him.

“But he’s a good guy, there is no question about that. There are none of them here who I’d say there is a red flag in terms of their attitude or anything like that. They are all so professional in their work and do everything correctly.

“But it’s not really about the 11 who started against Ross County. This really is a squad game now for the competitions we want to be in and for the team we want to be. If I was a player I wouldn’t be losing sleep for not being in the starting 11. It’s a lot about the finishing 11 anyway.”

One of Rodgers’ greatest strengths during his first time in charge was to take peripheral players and mould them into starters, something that could work in Turnbull’s favour.

“Hopefully what my body of work has shown over a number of years at a number of clubs is that when I arrive there is that opportunity for every player. It’s about who takes it. And that’s a choice. The one thing I base the standard of performance on is the culture which is to help players deliver.”