Celtic star gets unsung hero treatment as Brendan Rodgers laments 'not at level' area and gives Nicolas Kuhn update

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers admitted that his team let their standards slip defensively despite increasing their lead at the top of the Premiership to nine points with a 3-0 home win over Hibs.

The defending champions prevailed thanks to strikes from Arne Engels and Kyogo Furuhashi as well as an own goal from Joe Newell, but they were far from their secure best against Hibs, who fashioned nine shots on target. Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was named man of the match for a number of key saves, most notably in one-on-one situations from Mykola Kuharevich.

Rodgers made five changes to his starting XI on the back of Wednesday’s 1-0 win at Aberdeen, including resting key centre-half Cameron Carter-Vickers, ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League match away at Dinamo Zagreb and then next Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final against Rangers. And while it paid off with the victory, Rodgers conceded that his team were not as robust as usual.

Brendan Rodgers gives the thumbs-up from the touchline during Celtic's 3-0 win over Hibs. | SNS Group

“Obviously, I’m delighted with the win,” said Rodgers, whose nearest challengers Aberdeen drew 1-1 at home to St Johnstone. “This was the third game this week, so on the back of a game in midweek, tough game away from home, to come here and get the victory and keep a clean sheet, great. Our attacking play was very good. We scored good goals, created chances. Defensively, for our standard - not the level that I would expect and want.

“But sometimes that's part of when you do make the changes and so that's on me. But that defensive side, which is our start point, pressing, counter-pressing, it wasn't so good in the first half. We controlled the game in the second half - upped it to a level.

“If you watch us through the season, you see we haven't been that. It's not been the case. The main principle for me always to begin with is pressing. And that's why we've only considered the low number of goals that we have. But today, if you're just that little bit late to the press, you're not quite there or in the duel, you lose out, then teams can hurt you. So we've seen that more in the first half than the second.”

Rodgers made a tactical change at the interval with his team 1-0 up, bringing on James Forrest for Nicolas Kuhn. As a result, Celtic were far more solid down the right flank and the experienced winger chipped in with an assist for Furuhashi, who also came off the bench. The manager said that Forrest is one of the best in keeping possession in tight situations.

“We were losing too many balls on the right side. So in order to push them back, you've got to retain the ball. James Forrest is one of the best players, probably the best player I've ever worked with in my career at retaining the ball on the side. People will look at it now and go, it's because of maturity. No, no, I was here in 2016. The best player at receiving the ball on the side of the pitch when it's tight, left side or right side, to keep the ball. And then that allows you to sustain the attack. Too often we gave it away in the first half.”

James Forrest was one of the subs who made a big impact. | SNS Group

Celtic now head to Croatia for their match against Dinamo Zagreb before a trip to Hampden for their Rangers showdown. Rodgers says he is “excited” about what could unfold, with the potential for reaching at least the play-off round in Europe’s premier competition and landing the first piece of domestic silverware on offer.

“Now we recover,” added Rodgers. “And the opportunity is fantastic for us. We know what we're going to achieve. So, I'm really excited. We'll be able to recover players today. So, we'll have a freshness to our game also. And we know that at this level we can be really competitive. I'm really looking forward to it.”