Brendan Rodgers purrs over 'electric' Celtic and gives verdict on transfers after slaying Rangers

Brendan Rodgers has praised his “electric” Celtic team following a comprehensive win over Rangers and declared himself content with the club's transfer window business.

The Parkhead manager knows there were grumbles within the support as Celtic took time to make squad reinforcements but all was forgiven as the champions ran over the top of their rivals with a 3-0 victory.

Celtic were busy on transfer deadline day but only two new signings saw action against Rangers, with Luke McCowan and record transfer buy Arne Engels appearing as second-half substitutes.

Rodgers declared himself "very, very happy" when asked if he was satisfied with the re-strengthening in the last few days. Defender Auston Trusty and on-loan Barcelona left -back Alex Valle remained on the bench and will be introduced after the international break.

“I think that it's very, very hard to do everything you want to do in one window,” added Rodgers. "But if you look at the work that has gone into here at the club with the players, not just the players in, but players going out, there's been so much that we've needed to do in order to get the squad to where we want it to be. 

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers salutes the fans following the comprehensive 3-0 win over Rangers. | SNS Group

“So, a manager will always want a little bit more, but I can't complain. We've done some great business, some great work over the course of the window with the players we've brought in, going right back to Kasper (Schmeichel) and all the guys. So, that's been really, really good. And we'll need that throughout the course of the season.”

Rodgers stressed that this was only the beginning and his side, with these new additions, can go from strength to strength. It is not what Rangers wanted to hear.

“I think we're only starting,” he said.  “I think for me, the pleasing aspect was the performance. That was what we'd said to the players.

“I wanted them to concentrate on that, because that's what we've always done. We want to always make it really difficult for every opponent that we play. And we've seen that today, both with and without the ball.

“It was a fantastic performance,” he added. “I thought we were electric going forward. We've scored three and we look at the other chances we had in the game, which was very, very good, but also equally as pleasing is that we were defensively solid and strong right to the very end.

“Overall, it was such a great day for us. It just continues, the quality, the speed, the intensity of which we've been playing.”

The Celtic players celebrate their triumph in the Old Firm derby. | SNS Group

Kyogo was at the heart of this dynamic performance in the 77 minutes he was on the pitch, scoring his side’s second from 30 yards as he proved he is something more than a penalty box striker. “It's what you want,” said Rodgers.  

“I think you want that from your big players. And I think that confidence and that courage that he has, I think you can say that about a lot of the players, the courage they take going into these games, to play and perform to a high level. And he's done that today. 

“He's probably disappointed he never got his hat-trick,” the manager added. “But there was the one we had which was disallowed. It would be interesting to see the line on that, because that was a really, really worked goal, how we played through Rangers pressure and broke away and we scored. But yes, he was very, very good.”