Brendan Rodgers has promised Celtic can still find another level after victory over Motherwell saw them continue their unbeaten start to the Premiership season.
After seeing Arne Engels’ penalty put his team on the scoreboard just before half-time, Rodgers was pleased to see an improved second-half performance capped by goals from Daizen Maeda, Nicolas Kuhn and Reo Hatate.
But he said, “I think there’s still more to come.” If you compare the level of performance to the early parts of the season, obviously, of course, you’re playing less (at that stage) and maybe you’re not as fatigued or whatever.
“But we still demand, even in a really hectic schedule, the intensity with which we want to play.
‘It is important that we always continue seeking to raise the level.
‘Against Dundee United (0-0 draw last weekend), we didn’t create as much in the final third.
‘We got there, but we weren’t as ruthless or as clinical as we could be. But that was there today.
“Motherwell were well organized, compact, tight, a lot of players behind the ball, so you really have to change them and then you have that little break before the break.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was happy to bounce back from his side’s draw at Tannadice.
Rodgers was delighted to see Arne Engels on the scoresheet following recent criticism.
Motherwell goalkeeper Aston Oxborough concedes a penalty for a foul on Hyun-jun Yang
“In the second half, I felt like we needed to pick up the pace a little bit more and keep that risk in the game.”
Rodgers was delighted that Engels scored a goal from the penalty spot following recent criticism.
“I’ve taken him out for a few games just so he can watch it from the outside and take that pressure off of him,” he said. “I am very happy with Arne.”
Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell felt the decision to penalize Aston Oxborough for a challenge on Hyun-jun Yang in the penalty incident was harsh.
“At the time Celtic scored, I didn’t feel like our goalkeeper had worked too hard,” he said.
“I haven’t really analyzed the replays of the penalty. At the time, my intuition was that it was soft in terms of how the Celtic player went from what I felt was minimal contact to little or no contact.
‘I would need to see that again. I didn’t feel like there was much to it at all.
“That goes against you, but that’s not the end game.” “We thought about trying to galvanize ourselves and come out stronger in the second half.”