Celtic put in a really professional performance as Brendan Rodgers’ side dismantled Ross County at Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership.
The Bhoys were relentless and left Don Cowie breathless after 45 first-half minutes blew The Staggies away at Celtic Park.
Brendan Rodgers made six changes to his Celtic team as he dropped Arne Engels and Nicolas Kuhn to the bench for the visit of Ross County.
The Celtic boss was clearly of a mind to freshen up the team after their Champions League exertions against Club Brugge but leaving out the record signing and his most potent attacking threat, Rodgers explains exactly why the Hoops duo remained unstripped for kick-off.
Brendan Rodgers shares why Nicolas Kuhn & Arne Engels sat out Celtic’s win vs Ross County
Rodgers told the BBC, “I think it’s just giving a freshness to the team I trust the squad for today, we want a big energy in the game. We don’t want to be waiting on the game.
“We’ve got to go and create it. For that, we will have players who can hopefully influence the game and bring nice energy.
And on Celtic’s squad depth, Rodgers continued, “I think that again, another aspect of where we’ve improved over the course this summer because you need it.
“You don’t want the drop off if you go from Europe into the league, or when you’re in games you might be playing in the league or the Champions League.
So you want to be able to make the changes to affect the game. So that’s what the players have done really, really well. They come into the game. There’s no drop-off. The intensity is there, and they have that hunger to come in and do well.”
Luke McCowan stole the show but there was another Celtic standout vs Ross County
Luke McCowan was superb in Celtic’s win over Ross County as he scored and created a hattrick of assists in the 5-0 win.
However, there was another player who was superb and would probably, on another day, have been awarded the man of the match.
Paulo Bernardo was given the nod to start for Celtic as Rodgers rung in the changes at Parkhead yesterday afternoon.
Playing the full 90 minutes, as well as scoring, Bernardo also created four chances and had three shots on goal.
Rated at 8.6 by Fotmob, the Portuguese midfielder had 72 touches of the ball and made 48 passes of which 88% found a Celtic teammate.
Bernardo also has six touches in Ross County’e penalty box and made four passes into the final third.
Defensively the Portugal U21 captain was solid as he made six ball recoveries, won four duels and made four defensive actions.
As well as McCowan, Bernardo has given Brendan Rodgers some food for thought for Celtic’s next fixture which is against Aberdeen up at Pittodrie on Wednesday night.
