Brendan Rodgers explains sub that baffled Celtic fans

Who'd be a manager at this time? Brendan Rodgers has been over the course and distance before. He is adept at dealing with pressure cooker situations. Yet even he was not exempt from the faithful's ire when he made what turned out to be the game-winning substitutions on Sunday against Motherwell at Fir Park.

Trailing 1-0 in Lanarkshire Rodgers had brought on Adam Idah for Kyogo Furuhashi at half-time. Within six minutes it had paid rich dividends when the Republic of Ireland international leapt high above the Motherwell defence to restore parity. As Celtic laid siege to Motherwell's goal in search of a clincher and as chances went a-begging the visiting support sphincters started to twitch.

With 13 minutes go, the Northern Irishman went for broke as he flung on Portuguese attacking midfielder Paulo Bernardo and took off defensive midfielder Tomoki Iwata. It was met with a chorus of boos. It wasn't lost on Rodgers. The 51-year-old revealed that he was taken aback by the reaction and that the Celtic fans' negative reaction could have affected Bernardo.

Thankfully Idah and fellow substitute Luis Palma came up trumps in injury time as the champions ran out 3-1 winners in the end. It was another nerve-shredding late show from Celtic. Negativity is an imposter at this late juncture in the campaign. It is not welcome. Rodgers is busy steeling himself and his team for the final title push.

If Celtic are to wrestle the title initiative back from Rangers then the last thing Rodgers and his men need is anxiety and negativity cascading down from the stands and transmitting itself onto the players.

READ MORE: Watch Brendan Rodgers' media conference here

Rodgers said: "When you get booed for taking off a defender and putting on an attacker. That seemed strange. The game lasts 90-plus minutes, and you're talking 95 or 100-minute games now, so your bench is very important. Having the depth to bring players on and make an impact was very, very important.

"The reaction doesn't really matter to me. It's more for the player coming on and for the team. It is a negative reaction which I don't quite understand. We were at 1-1 in the game and you take off a defensive midfield player and put on an attacking player.

"An attacking player who has scored goals this season and you get booed. It just seems a little strange. Thankfully, the players' mentality on the pitch was superb and they kept going and kept fighting. All the great work that they did, especially in the second half, in terms of tiring the opponent out led to a couple of goals at the end.

"It's not normally for Celtic, I think it's in general at any club. If that feeling rolls down off the stands onto the pitch and it is negative then what do you expect? You will get players that will have nervousness and the game will look different. Whereas if they have that positive reaction and have that support, it's like life, isn't it? If you get that support and you get that feeling that people are behind you and I mean everyone then you will have a greater chance to succeed."

Succeed they did. It remains to be seen if the scenes of wild celebration in the Fir Park stands will have the desired galvanising effect on Rodgers's troops as they hunt down their city rivals.

Rodgers will ask his men to go again as they entertain Dundee at Parkhead in the latest instalment of the Scottish Premiership. The message is simple. Keep racking up wins. Apply the pressure to their riavls but do not overthink it. It sounds easy, enough doesn't it?

However, when the league title is at stake it's a different ball game altogether. 11 cup finals. One game at a time. Perm any one cliche from two. Dundee at home has all of a sudden become Celtic biggest match of the season because it is their next one.

Rodgers said: "It was a very good win for us at Motherwell in the end. I say that because the game is 90-plus minutes now. We didn't start the game so well in the first half as we got too many balls in behind and down the side and that's not what our team is all about.

"If we do not counter-press it then we should have the ability to stop those attacks and we didn't do that. It was all about staying calm at half-time and just connecting our game again.

"I thought in the second half, especially when Cameron (Carter-Vickers) came on there was nothing in behind and the two worked really well together and that allows you to sustain the attacks.

"We scored some very good goals and you saw the unity in the team and how together they are. It is another victory for us and it is another important win. Now we get ready for our next game.

"You do overthink it and I think that can be a part of the problem. You can think too much or think too far ahead. It's great that the players are taking that responsibility and that is what you want. You need that awareness and that responsibility and the level hasn't been quite that.

"What this group have been great at this season has been reacting. We don't like having to come from behind but if you have to do it, then you have to do it as you will never have it all your own way. The reaction of the players was superb. The level and the type of goals we scored were very good. We continue with that mentality.

"They are all big games. There are 11 games to go now. I think you have to focus on one game at a time and it is the old cliche but it really is that. We just have to focus on the performance as much as anything.

"Everyone wants to win and everyone wants to perform well. Before that, it is all about having that belief. I think you saw that in this team at the weekend. They had the belief that they could go and get the result and thankfully we did."

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Rodgers admits he is full of admiration for the job his opposite number Tony Docherty is doing at Dens Park having branched out as a manager in his own right for the first time this season.

Celtic have beaten Dundee twice already in their two league meetings so far both by a 3-0 margin but he knows the men in green and white will have to be at their best if they are to register a third successive win over the Dark Blues.

Rodgers said: "I think Tony's done great. It's his first time in (as manager). I know we have played well in the two games against them, especially in the second game up there. I think he has done fantastic and got the team organised really well.

"They've been flexible in the systems in the style they have played. They started with a back five and more recently they have been adapting with a back four or a a back five. He's done very well. He's got some very good players and we again will have to be at the top of our game to get a result."

Rodgers is well aware that there has been one trait missing from Celtic for large chunks of the campaign. However if his men can rediscover it then it might, just might be the quality that guides the champions to a third successive title.

Rodgers said: "There is no doubt that you need to have that ruthless mentality and we would want that for longer periods, of course. We are just continuing to analyse and look at that and see where we can improve and be better. If at the end of the game we have won the game then that's what is most important as long as we are performing well."

Ruthless mentality. In other words - good, old-fashioned bottle.

At Fir Park, Celtic should that they had the stomach for the title fight. Squeaky-bum time indeed. The supporters of both Celtic and Rangers will have to strap themselves as well as don strong underwear in the process.

The winners of the Scottish Premiership title will be the team who develops a ruthless mentality and whose arse does not collapse over the next 11 games.