Brendan Rodgers rang the changes for Celtic as the Bhoys beat St Mirren at Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership fixture at Parkhead.
The Celtic boss made four changes to his starting XI to face Stephen Robinson’s side and it worked as the Hoops ran out comfortable winners, eventually, after recording a 3-0 win at Celtic Park.
A double from Nicolas Kuhn and a first goal for Auston Trusty helped Celtic break down a dogged St Mirren and go 13 points clear at the top of the table after Rangers fell further behind the Bhoys with a draw against Hibs.
Kyogo Furuhashi, Reo Hatate, Liam Scales and Paulo Bernardo were the casualties of Celtic’s defeat to Rangers but the changes worked as the Hoops kept another clean sheet and scored three goals against a St Mirren team who were well organised and determined to give nothing away.
Brendan Rodgers shares how Celtic’s players have coped with Rangers defeat
Speaking before the game, as well as explaining the changes, Brendan Rodgers also revealed how his Celtic players have dealt with the defeat to Rangers over the past few days.
Rodgers told the BBC, “I think it’s always key when you lose, we look at the bigger picture – 16 games won, two draws and one defeat so we’re pleased with that start to the season.
“We take another step today into the second part of the season. The feeling doesn’t change the fact that we’ve been good up until this point.
“We haven’t spent too much time dwelling on it [the loss to Rangers].
Winning three trophies in 2024 and suffering just two defeats in a calendar year across all competitions is a phenomenal record but after making his changes to the Celtic starting lineup yesterday, it is clear that Rodgers will not rest on past successes as he strives to get everything out of his team.
Brendan Rodgers has ‘learned’ lessons from Celtic’s Ibrox defeat as Kyogo and Reo Hatate drop out
Explaining his team selection for the St Mirren game, Rodgers said the defeat to Rangers was a ‘learning opportunity’ and he wanted to show ‘the real Celtic’ against the Buddies.
“The game we lost was a great learning opportunity for us,” continued Rodgers, “I haven’t seen a performance like that from us in a long time and now we have two home games to show the real Celtic.
“It’s always a big day for the team, there’s no extra pressure on Adam [Idah]. We make changes to keep the freshness, just because we lose a game I don’t lose sight of the bigger picture.
“We need to play a really good game today to get the points.
Kyogo is likely to return to the Celtic starting team against Dundee United on Wednesday night after Adam Idah, despite his hard work, failed to impress against St Mirren
Reo Hatate, however, may find it a lot more challenging to win his place back. Luke McCowan and Arne Engels put in a very good shift against the Paisley club and have every chance of retaining their place when Celtic welcome The Tangerines to Parkhead midweek.
Rodgers’ squad depth is providing competition and, it seems, that no player’s place at Celtic is guaranteed as the fixtures come thick and fast this month.
