Everything Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said to BBC Sportsound, following his side's 4-1 win over Hearts this afternoon...
Brendan, a quite magnificent performance from your players this afternoon. What was your analysis of it?
Yeah, I thought the players were very good. I thought that we needed to start the game with an energy and bring the game to a level to make it difficult for Hearts because this is a place where if they start well then the crowd can get behind them and it could be a long afternoon. I thought the players from start to finish were excellent. There are areas that we can be better in, and I think when we go up to three and four-one, we can manage the ball a wee bit better and maybe be a bit more clinical. To come here and be that convincing is always pleasing.
Matt O’Riley’s goal after just four minutes was a thing of beauty. Do you see that every day in training from him?
Yeah, he's just getting better, he's a young player who is developing and improving. I said when I came in: “You need to up your goal record.”, and for that, you need to arrive into areas. To be fair to him, he does a lot of work on his game. He's an outstanding young professional and he has great technique. He's showing that every week, but I see it every day!
Kyogo as well, you can always rely on him, can’t you? The chance for the penalty just after half-time, it looked like that was going to kill the game, but Hearts actually played okay after that, didn’t they?
I think that gave them a little bit of energy for obviously two-nil, three-nil, which should kill the game. We miss the penalty, then of course the stadium gets a little bit of emotion for 10 minutes. Once we got the third goal, then we were able to work through it.
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Where do you feel your side are in terms of where you think they can go and how good they can be?
It's just constant development and constant improvement. I never like to put a ceiling on it. I think that there's always going to be time with the players and a new manager coming in and lots of changes within the squad. You can see they’re finding their feet now and the idea of how it is we want to work. Celtic is notoriously always a club that wants and has to win but win in a certain style. It's always key when you manage and play for Celtic. You see the style that the players played with today. I just think it's development, and players will improve. We also constantly - whilst we’re looking for that constant development – we need to win, and the boys won really well today.
What have you – in particular – tweaked yourself? In terms of you coming in and the changes from last season?
Not too much. I think there's just an understanding when you're lower on the pitch and where you want the full-backs to be, rather than always on the inside, offering the support on the outside, and then bringing it through the pitch. My whole philosophy has always been – without the technical jargon – it's about whenever you haven’t got the ball, then close the space, and whenever you have the ball, then create space, and always have one man more in the middle of the pitch. That’s the simplest way I can put it. All my teams – when I was here the first time – we played 3-4-3 in various structures, and this team have a really good base of technicality, which allows me to make little adaptions to it. Ange (Postecoglou) did a great job here in his time. this team will continue to grow and develop. The mindset is always to be offensive and be attacking and play exciting football.
Is it possible to compare, or too early to compare this team with the team you had, the Invincibles, for example?
Yes. I get asked that question a lot. I hear lots of talk about the levels and how they are different. I don’t see that… People say, “It's a stronger league now.” than when I was here the first time, but I don’t see that. Aberdeen was a good team then, and Hearts were competitive. Stevie Clarke with Kilmarnock was competitive and very good. It's a different timeline. What's most important for us is coming to grounds like this, which is where I think you find out if you're a good team or not, because you're going to have difficult moments here. That allows you to see how you deal with it. I thought the players dealt with it really well today, it was probably the quietest the crowd have been in all my times coming here.
They certainly went out of the ground pretty quickly. In terms of levels, though, you’ve got a game on Wednesday against Atletico Madrid. That’s another step up again though, isn’t it?
Absolutely, it's one of the top clubs in the world. The game is all about levels, and that’s the highest level of European competition. Without the results, I've been pleased with what the players have given in the two games. Very unfortunate to not take some points, but this will be another challenge for us on Wednesday night. It's a great challenge, 60,000 behind us, and we want to make it really difficult. We want to take on the best teams in the world, we don’t have to be the best team in the world, but we want to be able to take them on, and that’s what we’ll try to do.
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I know they were 3-0 winners last night in Spain. Where in particular are their dangers, or are they all over the pitch?
Listen, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to look at Antoine Griezmann, who is world-class, and Alvaro Morata at the top end of the pitch. They have quality and experience, with World Cup winners in the squad, and players that are very experienced.
Not bad, are they?
Well, they’re absolutely better than that! Top team, top manager, but that’s the challenges we want.
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