NOT A LITTLE BOY: CELTIC BOSS BRENDAN RODGER HAILS ONE PLAYER AFTER HE LIFTS LID ON TALKS

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Brendan Rodgers hailed the response of his centre-half Auston Trusty after the American centre-half helped Celtic progress in the Scottish Cup just days after being criticised for “soft” defending by his manager.

The holders defeated Kilmarnock 2-1 at Celtic Park thanks to goals from Callum McGregor and Daizen Maeda to advance to the last 16 of the tournament and Rodgers was pleased with the reaction of Trusty after the centre-half, signed for £6 million in the summer, was outmuscled for two goals during the midweek 3-3 draw with Dundee.

Trusty kept his place in the team alongside compatriot Cameron Carter-Vickers as Rodgers maintained his 100 per cent record in the Scottish Cup and Celtic geared up for Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Young Boys with a win.

They’re a big side, but we stood up to that,” said Rodgers. “I will say, as I talked about Auston Trusty the other night, and then you see his response, I thought it was excellent today. Big, strong, powerful, and that’s what we expect from a Celtic centre-half.

He’d realised himself. A lot of the time at Celtic, you may not have so much to do, especially at home. You’re there, and I always think that you get your chance to shine away from home, where you’ve got to stand up and be strong, and that’s your bread and butter. Then there’ll be times at home, like today, where you’ve got to stand up and be counted, and I thought he was brilliant at that.

“I spoke to him after the [Dundee] game, I spoke to him the next day. You draw a line under it, he knows exactly where he stands. These are men, these are men. They’re not little boys. You can talk openly and honestly to them, and that’s what every player will tell you. His response was excellent, he was good in training, so he had to train. You could see his focus, and that’s what I expect, because in the big games, the Leipzig, Atalanta, he’s been colossal in those games.”

Celtic were more fallible at the other end of the pitch, with their forward players in particular passing up numerous chances. Striker Kyogo Furuhashi had an off-night, missing a couple of very presentable chances, with the team creating 18 opportunities in total.

On the team’s performance, Rodgers continued: “Very good performance, obviously. The game should have been out of sight at half-time. You want to be able to create the opportunities, but that was only criticism, just not clinical enough. We gave away the goal just before half-time from a defensive throw, so not ideal, but the reaction of the players in the second half was terrific. Like I say, we should have been much more comfortable in the game, but I thought performance-wise the players did very, very well.

“We played well enough and there were really good chances. They weren’t half-chances, they were there to finish, and we didn’t just quite make them, but we showed real pace in the game. Speed at the top end of the pitch was very good. We got through moments of pressure in the game, because I command how they’ll play. There’ll be lots of direct balls and lots of throws into the box, and so you have to deal with all of that.”

Celtic’s next assignment is at home to Young Boys in the Champions League on Wednesday night, when a win would secure a play-off place. “We know what the objective was for the tournament this season, and I think we’ve done really well until this point,” added Rodgers, “but we want to get over the line and into the knockout stages.

NOT A LITTLE BOY: CELTIC BOSS BRENDAN RODGER HAILS ONE PLAYER AFTER HE LIFTS LID ON TALKS

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NOT A LITTLE BOY: CELTIC BOSS BRENDAN RODGER HAILS ONE PLAYER AFTER HE LIFTS LID ON TALKS

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