Celtic's Brendan Rodgers at odds with Derek Adams' assessment - 'it’s a challenge we all relish'

Ahead of welcoming County to Parkhead, Celtic boss responds to Staggies counterpart’s withering comments on Scottish game

Derek Adams’ negative comments on the state of the SPFL won’t have gone down well among those paid to promote our game, but his opposite number on Saturday afternoon, Brendan Rodgers, was happy to paint a much more positive picture from his own experiences.

Adams was highly critical of both his own team and the standard of the game in general after returning for a third spell as Ross County manager late last year, believing his former club, Morecambe, to be “100 times better” than what he had witnessed back on this side of the border. Rodgers, though, disagreed with the assessment that Scottish football is in a state of disrepair and decline, believing his Celtic side face a challenge in the Premiership no matter who they are facing, even if County travel to Glasgow today without a win to their name in five games.

“Derek probably has more experience of the game up here than me,” he said. “But he’s also experienced enough to know what he’s walked into having come back up here. I haven’t seen much of the comments. I hear little bits and pieces. But for me there are some very good players up here. Not only that, this is a level where a lot of players who have played at the very highest level in the Premier League, and we’ve seen it before, can’t cope with the football up here.

Celtic take on Ross County at Parkhead.

“This is a real challenge in Scotland. I’ve said it before that you’ve near enough got the four leagues in England in one league. You’ve got big games, big clubs and big intensity. Then there are other games you should dominate. But those games are never easy. I always think back to Liverpool at Mansfield when I was there. That was a tough game for us. Those games are never easy. I think up here there are no easy games. You always have to be ready and be prepared. He knows Scottish football a lot better than me, Derek. I can only speak from my experience from the first time and now. It’s always a challenge. It’s a challenge we all relish.”

Celtic return to league action on Saturday afternoon after the winter break with their lead at the top shorn to five points following Rangers’ midweek win at Hibs. That advantage could be reduced further to just two should Philippe Clement’s side defeat St Mirren in the lunchtime kick-off but Liam Scales revealed Celtic’s targets for the second half of the season won’t be affected by what happens elsewhere.

“We are ready to kick on now,” said the defender. “Obviously there were a couple of negatives in the first half of the season, like not winning the League Cup, and maybe we could have got more results in Europe, where our home performances were good but we struggled a bit away. We looked at all of that and realised there’s room to improve in the second half of the season. Setting challenges is a big part of what the manager does and he’s very good at it. As players we need to take it on board and really improve. Obviously we want to win the league and the cup. It’s more about doing the right things every week and that will eventually win us trophies.”