Brendan Rodgers confesses his Celtic crime and lifts lid on 'wee Hearts guy' who never stopped talking

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers hailed his team’s second-half performance in the 4-1 victory over Hearts and explains that the slow start was down to players coming back from the international break.

The Premiership champions were more than matched by their hungry opponents in an ultra-competitive first half that ended goalless, before regrouping at the break and netting four second-half goals through Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas Kuhn and two from substitute Adam Idah. Musa Drammeh bagged a consolation for the hosts.

With nearest challengers Aberdeen losing 2-1 at St Mirren, Celtic are now three points clear at the top of the league. They lead Rangers by 11 points after their 1-1 draw with Dundee United at Ibrox.

“You come into Tynecastle and win 4-1, it's always a great win on the back of an international break,” said Rodgers. “Yes, first half, I thought Hearts did well. They surprised us a little bit with the pressing structure. Obviously, I'd watched Neil and his team, they'd normally pressed in 4-4-2, but that was slightly different. So, we had some good movements in the first half, but our positioning wasn't quite right, which meant we got caught on the ball a little bit more often than I would have liked.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers salutes the fan after beating Hearts. | SNS Group

“Once we went through that at half-time and figured it out and got our positioning better, then we were able to play through that press really well and score some fantastic goals. Concentration from the team was really, really good and it ended up being a really, really good win for us. Just to show the maturity of the team, just to keep on pushing and making sure they got that win in style as well.”

Rodgers hailed the impact of his substitutes, with Idah in particular impressing with his brace plus Yang Hjun-jun and Paulo Bernardo adding fresh impetus to the team.

“I think that's the nature of it,” continued Rodgers. “I think we're bringing guys into the game that the intent is to keep driving the team forward. We want, like I've always said, the very best teams to start fast and finish strong. So, it's keeping that mentality right to the very end. It's another plus three goals for us that adds to the goal difference and that's what we want to keep pushing for.

“The guys coming into the game affected it. It's a great testament, I have to say, coming off the back of the travel that some of these guys have done. I thought just looking at us a little bit at times, we were a little bit leggy in the first half in some moments.

“But you've got guys that are travelling, the Japanese players halfway around the world, Auston Trusty, Ali Johnson travelling away and joining the team on Friday. So, the beauty is a fantastic second half but I know we'll get that synchronisation back again and there's no more international breaks. We'll get that fluidity and quality back into the team.”

Rodgers plans to use his squad wisely over a busy period between now and the new year - admitting that he is doing some of his players a disservice for not starting them. “I've said it before, it's a crime that I can't play some of these players from the start,” said the Northern Irishman. “But they know over this period that they'll get starts but it's making an impact. Whether you start the game, come into the game, that's the role that they play and sometimes they will do. So, it's just trying to manage the minutes of the players to make the team energetic and to keep that intensity. We're going to need that over the coming months.”

Rodgers played down any extra incentive from both Aberdeen and Rangers losing earlier in the day. “No, just focus on ourselves,” said Rodgers. “I think if some of your nearest rivals drop points then you want to be able to take advantage of that even though it's very early on. But it's still always about your own self, having to perform. I think everyone recognises coming here with only 500-odd supporters who were absolutely brilliant.

Adam Idah and Paulo Bernardo came off the bench and made a big impact. | SNS Group

“We heard them all night. Difficult conditions today for people travelling to games but for them to get there, give us that support and for us to reward them with a win was great. So, it's a little gap now but as I said, we've just got to focus on ourselves and just keep increasing it.”

Rodgers was on the receiving end of some flak from the home supporters and Rodgers was asked to divulge what was said from the Hearts fans.

“There's a wee guy who never stopped talking the whole game,” Rodgers added. “I always enjoy coming here. It's a great place to come and play. It's very intense. If they want to win, absolutely. But unfortunately, so do we.”