The dust is starting to settle on Celtic’s League Cup final win over Rangers and the feeling of joy could still be felt days later.
It wasn’t easy and even Brendan Rodgers knows that his players made it far more difficult than they should have, but Celtic’s penalty shootout win over Rangers is one for the history books.
That’s trophy number 119 for the Bhoys, no other club in the Scottish land has won more and you sense there is plenty more of that to come.
But let’s be honest, at one point, it was looking like Celtic were going to shoot themselves in the foot and not bother turning up.
That was the feeling post-Greg Taylor’s mistake for Rangers’ opener and the feeling at half-time.
Charlie Mulgrew was unhappy with Celtic off-camera during League Cup final win
Charlie Mulgrew was pitchside for Celtic’s triumph over Rangers and he was pretty honest in what he was seeing throughout the event.
At one point, he stated that he told others off camera that Rodgers needs to get his players ‘moving the ball quicker’ and even using Kyogo Furuhashi a lot more, as he told Premier Sports.
Rodgers made a change at the break when he took off Auston Trusty for Liam Scales and Mulgrew’s point was valid that the ball ‘wasn’t really going anywhere’ at one point.
I think Celtic need to start moving the ball quicker,” said Mulgrew. “We spoke about if off camera, in the half, can you bounce it off to Kyogo’s feet, then bounce it back and then you are away forward?!
“A lot of bouncing around the back and not really going anywhere.
Brendan Rodgers’ tactical tweak changes the game for Celtic against Rangers
It was simple, if Celtic continued as they were, then a defeat was on the horizon, but Rodgers worked his magic, as per.
Given that it was Taylor who made the mistake for the opening goal, most people would have brought on Alex Valle at half-time.
But the manager opted for Scales instead of Trusty – and it paid off – as he shared the tactical tweak he made to speak the team into life.
“I thought we had no cleanliness in our build-up at all,” Rodgers told Premier Sports. “We looked so clunky and couldn’t get through the pitch. We looked a wee bit edgy. So I didn’t like that, how we cleaned the game up. Scales has been brilliant, to be fair.
“He’s clean and Auston Trusty did really, really well. I just felt that he’s had the experience of playing in finals for us now, Liam. I just made that change and he came in and he was able to clean the game up.
