Rough-hewn Celtic plant their flag as two big Brendan Rodgers calls show switch from Ange Postecoglou era

Celtic were more than a little rough round the edges, even if ultimately able to coast as they began their assault on a third straight title.

David Turnbull was in impressive form as Celtic defeated Ross County 4-2 at home.

Not a phrase you would ever deploy to describe Brendan Rodgers, negotiating his first competitive encounter since his summer return. A smooth operator, this 4-2 home win over Ross County in the Premiership opener was underpinned by how this facet can show itself in his coaching methodology. Football managers are judged on the, sometimes, eyebrow-raising calls they are willing to make. So it was that Rodgers was instantly vindicated with two key decisions that departed from how Celtic were cast in his predecessor Ange Postecoglou’s era. In that, David Turnbull would never have been preferred over Reo Hatate for a game with high stakes. And Kyogo Furahashi would never have been asked to leave the shoulder of defenders and regularly drop deep to become a creative fulcrum outside of the penalty area. This latter modification, said Rodgers, related to the “development” of the Japanese forward’s game, and allowing him to “link up” as he can “really well” to allow his team to derive full value from their pace in wide areas.

The success of these tactical inputs by the Celtic manager allowed his men to plant their first little pennant of the Premiership campaign on the afternoon they raised the flag to celebrate their title triumph of last season. Initially they were odds with themselves, especially defensively, in appearing surprised by County’s enterprise – across the opening period the visitors had seven corners to Celtic’s one, and forced two early chances to snatch an opener. The contest turned on Josh Sims lazily leaving his leg out for Greg Taylor to fall over in the box after 17 minutes. A swift VAR check that backed referee’s Nick Walsh’s award of a penalty, followed by Turnbull converting with aplomb.

The midfielder seemed buoyed by this finish, and, in tandem with Matt O’Riley, was to the fore as Celtic took charge. A smart header into the path of Liel Abada nine minutes later allowed the winger to charge down the right flank and swing over a low cross Furuhashi punched in, helped by messy goalkeeping from Ross Laidlaw. He redeemed himself by making a triple block to deny Turnbull twice and then O’Riley as a third of the day seemed certain, only for a delightful mazy run that allowed O’Riley to chip over for Turnbull to find the net with a battered into the ground effort doing a disservice to the first half produced by Malky Mackay’s men.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers utilised Kyogo Furuhashi a little differently during the match against the Staggies.

The obligatory Jordan White goal when his side face Glasgow’s big two was how the second period began – the striker sending in a looping header from a corner – before Celtic had half almost all their own way, Furuhashi demonstrating his value as a build-up player with a deft flick into the path of O’Riley that allowed him to smash the ball high into the net on the hour. In terms of notable goalmouth action, the last such moment was more significant than anyone realised as substitute Carl Starfelt inadvertently deflected a James Brown shot into his own net. Rodgers revealed afterwards that the Swede is poised to leave the club, that looks like the centre-back’s last act of his two years with the club.

Many expected that would be the case of Turnbull, now in the final year of his current deal. Rodgers suggested afterwards it is up to the player to ensure otherwise. “I think it is the responsibility of the player. I think he is a talent,” the Celtic manager said. “I remember seeing him when I was first here and I liked his game. He maybe hasn’t quite hit the heights of what his talent is. I spoke to him in pre-season and said that it would be a shame if you don’t achieve what you can do in a club like this because you obviously have the talent but you have to be a working talent. You have to be able to run and you have to be aggressive in your game and if you can do that then your qualities will come through."