Following Celtic’s impressive 4-2 opening win of the season over Ross County, Brendan Rodgers has given an interview giving his thoughts on Celtic’s performance.
Goals from Kyogo, O’Riley, and a double from Turnbull put Celtic 4 up, while Ben White and James Brown struck back to bring the final score to 4-2 in Paradise. Rodgers was the first to admit that Celtic was slow to start and not as ruthless as he wants them to be. With that said, he believes that there were some promising signs from the Celtic side. Speaking to Sky Sports, Brendan gives his thoughts on the Celtic performance…
“I think the result was a good result. I thought Ross County started very well and I thought we were slow to start. I thought we had some really good moments with the ball, but we need to be much better against the ball. We conceded two goals where we have to be better and some of the half chances – especially in the first half but I think it’s what you expect a little bit.
“It’s never going to be perfect in the first game but what’s important is to win and when we played well, we showed some great moments with the ball but collectively we’ll get better.”
Brendan continues to lay out what this performance is down to. “Just the time of the season, it’s the first game. Players are still finding their fitness. Tony Ralston’s first 90 minutes he’s played, Cameron Carter-Vickers has just joined us in training and Maik Nawrocki is just in the door so it’s just guys getting up to speed and fitness.
“Like I said, it’s always good whenever when maybe you don’t play to the top of your game, but you can win will, you give Ross County and Malky Mackay credit as well because they came here and made it very difficult with their man-marking style. It’s tough to play against and you have to really work hard to find the spaces, but when the players did that, they scored some very good goals.”
David Turnbull had a fantastic game at Parkhead yesterday, managing to put the ball in the back of the net twice. Brendan gave his thoughts on Turnbull’s performance. “Yeah, he took his goals well. He’s very efficient, David obviously, the penalty was very cool, and he was there at the back-post and he finishes from a great cross from Matt O’Riley and should have had another one with a good run into the box.
“I think that’s David’s game, he is very good on the ball and his timing is very good and he can finish so I’m pleased for him.”
Finally, Brendan reveals that although Carl Starfelt made an appearance yesterday, he might be planning an exit from Celtic, as there may be ‘reasons’ for him to move on.
“Yeah, Carl could leave and obviously hence the reason for not starting him. It might be something that goes through next week, but we shall see. He’s obviously been a fantastic servant here and he’s a great guy and really committed, but there are reasons why he may want to move on, but we’ll see how that looks.”
🗣️ “Carl [Starfelt] could leave… He’s been a fantastic servant, but there are reasons why he might want to move on”
Brendan Rodgers discusses the future of the Swedish defender and also reflects on his side’s 4-2 win 👇 pic.twitter.com/XLiFniD53X
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) August 5, 2023
