PLEASE SHUT CUP
BRENDAN RODGERS last night hit back at Celtic’s knockers and told them: “Judge us when the trophies are being handed out.”
The double treble winning boss has watched his men make a sluggish start to the Premiership season which has seen them slip six points behind league leaders Hearts and into fifth place in the table.
Celtic also slumped to yet another European away defeat as the Hoops crashed
3-1 to Red Bull Salzburg in
Austria on Thursday night.
But Rodgers is adamant there is no need to press the panic button just yet and called for cool heads.
The Northern Irishman said: “It’s early October. If there’s any message then it’s, ‘Judge us in May’. There’s nobody panicking in here.
“We lost a game against a better team. We just have to focus on our next game and stay calm.”
Having scored just six goals in their last seven games in all competitions, Rodgers acknowledges there’s a lack of a creative spark after losing Moussa Dembele, Patrick Roberts and Stuart Armstrong. The 45-year-old said: “When you lose the players we have then of course it will make a difference.
“It is not just Moussa as there is a collective. There is Stuart Armstrong’s goals and his running ability and we had Paddy Roberts leaving as well.
“There are probably a number of reasons why we’ve struggled a little to create opportunities and the speed of our game has something to do with that – we need to play with a higher tempo and move the ball forward more.
“These are all things which are constantly looked at and worked on. There’s no doubt we’ve not scored anywhere nearly as many goals as we’d have liked to but we just need to keep chipping away.”
Meanwhile, midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu (inset) has dismissed Celtic’s rivals and insists no team in Scotland can match them.
He said: “There is no worry at all about the league table because once we play Hearts and Hibs, once we beat them, we are going to be on the top.”
Skipper Scott Brown should return to the fold after the international break but Tom Rogic may be fit to make the trip to Perth to face St Johnstone.