Hibs defeat reinforces Brendan Rodgers' desire to spend in January

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers issues instructions on the sidelines. Picture: SNS

Hibs 2 - 0 Celtic: Neil Lennon's men ease past hapless Celts

Goals from Vykintas Slivka and Florian Kamberi, the first coming after only 46 seconds, secured a result that leaves Celtic trailing rivals Rangers in the Ladbrokes Premiership table, albeit with a game in hand. The pre-match favourites’, either.

Rodgers knows Celtic’s shortcoming were not entirely down to lethargy as the reigning champions are short of options up front following the decision to allow troubled striker Leigh Griffiths to step away from football for the foreseeable future.

“We need to look in the January window,” said Rodgers, whose side still have four games to play before the end of the year.

“When we had Leigh and Odsonne (Edouard) we were definitely in the market for another one, because of the number of games we play.

“I think it is unfair on Odsonne, he had to play in so many games. As a 20-year-old I would love to have taken him out but, because of necessity, he has had to play.

“It is unfortunate for him he hasn’t had the support around him to absorb that but it is certainly something we need to look at in January.”

Rodgers refused to use the draining clash with Salzburg as an excuse – indeed he had described qualifying for the Europa League last 32 as a “lift” ahead of yesterday’s clash.

“It was nothing to do with energy from Thursday, it was a tactical discipline in those two moments,” he said. “We were not concentrated. We left gaps in the first minute, passed at the wrong time and then didn’t track runners back.

“That was disappointing that you don’t get off to a good start against a team not overly confident. The second one comes from our free-kick, again, tactical discipline.”