After a truly awful Celtic performance at Rugby Park this afternoon where Celtic were knocked out of the League Cup by Kilmarnock, the Celtic manager spoke to broadcasters Viaplay and picked over the bones of the defeat where to only credit that can be given on a frustrating afternoon goes to the travelling Celtic support who did everything that they could to lift the team as they searched for an equaliser.
20th August 2023; Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, Scotland: Scottish Viaplay Cup Football, Kilmarnock versus Celtic; Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers applauds the Celtic fans after the defeat
Here’s what Brendan Rodgers had to say to Viaplay after losing 1-0 to Kilmarnock to exit the League Cup.
Viaplay: Brendan, it’s not a usual feeling for the club or yourself, a cup defeat.How much of a setback is today for you?
Brendan Rodgers: “Well it’s a disappointment, there’s no doubt. I don’t think we did enough to win the game. We upped the level when we went behind but we didn’t show enough quality when we had the ball. The goal, we switch off from the throw-in, we don’t win our duels and they go through and score. It was a disappointing result for us. But give credit to Kilmarnock. They worked very hard, put the blocks in, put the tackles in and like I say, they win the game.”
Viaplay: What’s the process for assessing the performance as a whole?
Brendan Rodgers: “I always think when you lose any game you’ve got to give it 24 hours to grieve. We’ll go away, we’ll assess it. The key thing is about learning. This is a team that’s got a lot of new players in and people will look at it and say it’s the same squad, it’s not. It’s a different squad of players. But still, we should have more quality than what we showed today. We need to go away, review it, analyse it and look to our next game.”
Viaplay: What is it that makes Rugby Park such a difficult venue?
Brendan Rodgers: “The pitch. The pitch. There’s nothing else. You look to move the ball quickly and obviously, when you are playing against an opponent who are strong, quick, and can run, you need the ball to be able to move fast and clearly it wasn’t for us today. Still, I don’t want to make any excuses. It’s been a tough place to come. As I said, today we didn’t do enough.”
Viaplay: Debut for Gustaf Lagerbiekle and full debut for Odin Holm, what did you make of their performances?
Brendan Rodgers: “It’s a good eye-opener for them at this level. I thought Gustaf did well. He’s strong, he’s committed and he passes the ball well. He’s only in and I thought he was strong for us today. Odin is a boy that’s got talent. He’s a young player and this experience will be good for him.”
Viaplay: Next ten days of the window. Do you need to add?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah. I think it’s always been about quality, I’ve said that before. The team needs match-winners, it needs quality. That’s something hopefully we can do.”
