'Goals were excellent, and I thought we played really well,' Brendan Rodgers

The Celtic boss praised Hoops academy graduate Dane Murray for netting his first goal for his boyhood club on the day of his three-year contract extension. Brendan also passionately defended Arne Engels’ development and spoke in depth about the relationship Kieran Tierney and Daizen Maeda are building down the left-hand side.

Here’s everything that was said…

Q: Brendan, how happy were you with the result and the performance tonight?

Brendan Rodgers: “I thought the performance was very good. From the first whistle, you’ve seen the hunger in the team and the intensity in the team. First half, we were good with the ball. We were not so good without it. We gave Falkirk a couple of wee opportunities to break through. We weren’t aggressive enough and tight enough on them. When we correct that at halftime, we really dominated the second half. So yeah, very pleased. Goals were excellent, and I thought we played really well.”

Q: Do you think that’s the best it’s looked so far this season?

Brendan Rodgers: ” “We’ve only played three games. So clearly, you want progression, you want development. And there are different contexts of games. They’re a team that want to come and play. And we want to play, so it becomes a really good football game. St Mirren come here, they sit deep, sit low, and it’s early season, so you’re still finding your connections and everything else. Aberdeen, similar. They put it in a different shape, low, but we controlled the game. John McGlynn’s a really courageous, brave manager, and that’s why he’s had the success he’s had. Again his team to play. And we knew we had to be good to get through, and thankfully we were.”

Q: It’s obviously such a big week for the club, so how pleasing is it that you can go and make six changes tonight and still dominate the game against Premiership opposition?

Brendan Rodgers: ” “Yeah, I value every player that we have. I trust them. So when I put them in, I expect them to perform, and they did that.”

Q: Is the tie staying now?

Brendan Rodgers: ” “It depends. If it’s really hot, I’ll probably take it off again. If it is cold, I might wear a jumper. Everyone missed the belt, I wasn’t wearing a belt the other day, so I don’t know how we missed that.”

Q: Can I ask about Kieran Tierney and Daizen Maeda linking up for the first goal. How pleased are you with how their partnership is starting to get into a rhythm on that left side?

Brendan Rodgers: ” “Yeah, I think there’s still a lot of work for them to do. I think they became sometimes a little predictable on that side, where we were constantly crossing it. We want to cross it, of course, but we need to vary it, but that will come. But I thought Kieran was outstanding in the game. You can see him each game, his dominance, and it gives us that real security when we haven’t got the ball. But he’s going to get even better as his fitness develops. And obviously, it’s a different player for Daizen to connect with because Kieran will at times be wider. So that means he has to move inside, whereas Greg was very much on the inside, playing out to Daizen. But no, I thought that through the team, the connections were really good and it was good to see both of those boys playing well and getting that understanding.”

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