The Celtic 'crime' that Rodgers is committing with his team

Thoughts on tonight?

it's always a great win on the back of an international break. First half, I thought Hearts did well, they surprised us a little bit with the pressing structure. Obviously, I'd watched him nailing his team. They'd normally pressed in 4-4-2, but that was slightly different. We had some good movements in the first half, but our positioning wasn't quite right, which meant we got caught on the ball a little bit more often than I would have liked. Once we went through that at half-time and figured it out and got our positioning better, then we were able to play through that press really well and scored some fantastic goals. The concentration on the team was really, really good. It ended up being a really, really good win for us.

Does that show the maturity of the team, just to keep on pushing and making sure they got that win in style as well?

Yes, that's it. I think that's the nature of it. I think we're bringing guys into the game whose intent is to keep driving the team forward. Like I've always said, the very best teams start fast and finish strong, so it's keeping that mentality right to the very end. It's another plus three goals for us that adds to the goal difference and that's what we want to keep pushing for. The guys coming into the game affected it. It's a great testament, I have to say, coming off the back of the travel that some of these guys have done. I thought just looking at us a little bit at times, we were a little bit leggy in the first half in some moments. But you've got guys that are travelling, the Japanese players halfway around the world, Auston Trusty, Ali Johnson, travelling away and joining the team on Friday. So the beauty is a fantastic second half, but I know we'll get that synchronisation back again. No more international breaks, we'll get that fluidity and quality back into the team. But no, we managed the game really well in the second half.

Talking about finishing strong, have any of the guys like Paulo Bernardo and Adam Idah have given you much food for thought?

No, they always do. I've said it before, it's a crime that I can't play some of these players from the start. But they know over this period that they'll get starts, but it's making an impact. Whether you start the game, come into the game, that's the role that they play and sometimes they will do. So it's just trying to manage the minutes of the players to make the team energetic and to keep that intensity. And we're going to need that over the coming months.

First time you're points clear now of Aberdeen at the top for the first time this season. Is it just a case of keeping your foot to the floor now?

No, we’re just staying focused on ourselves. I think if some of your nearest rivals drop points, then you want to be able to take advantage of that. Even though it's very early on. But it's still always about your own self, having to perform. I think everyone recognises coming here with only 500-odd supporters who were absolutely brilliant. We heard them all night. Difficult conditions today for people travelling to games, but for them to get there, give us that support and for us to reward them with a win was great. So it's a little gap now, but as I said, we've just got to focus on ourselves and just keep increasing it.

Did you get a lift for those two results before kick-off?

Not really, no. I think you can only look after yourself. I think we had a game here last year where our rivals lost and we came here and lost. So that was irrespective. For us, we just focus on ourselves and make sure we get the win in the performance.

Did you have a bit of fun with a couple of Hearts fans when that third goal went in? I think you'd been taking a wee bit of stick behind the dugout?

There's a wee guy who never stopped talking the whole game. I always enjoy coming here. It's a great place to come and play. It's very intense. They want to win, absolutely. But unfortunately, so do we.

You described this as an ultra-marathon. I think you have 18 games, 67 days, something like that. Are you strapping yourself in?

Yes, I'm excited about it. I'm really going to look forward to using the squad, giving guys that have been on the side game time, that are working very, very hard. But no, I don't look too far ahead. We really have to just take it game by game, manage the training of the players, the fitness of the players, so that they're ready to perform in the games. Because, like I said, there's very little training time, just recovery time, and then max out in the games.

Are you impressed with the partnership that's beginning to form between Auston Trusty and Cameron Carter-Vickers? I know they conceded late on, but that partnership is beginning to grow between the two players?

Yes, I think that whoever put in there, whether it's Liam Scales or whoever, they've been really, really solid. I think what you see with his physicality, Auston's playing against a really good striker in Lawrence Shankland, but he's really strong and aggressive, and then he's got that speed when it goes in behind. So, yes, I've always said that centre-half position is really important. It's two players, but it's really one position, and the balance has to be right. He's starting to understand how we play as well, starting to feed it forward, and he's done very well, like I said, off the back of a really, really long flight.