Celtic routed Aberdeen earlier this week but it still wasn’t enough for Brendan Rodgers.
It was a comfortable victory for Celtic as they smashed the Dons 5-1 but the first-half had the manager disappointed with elements of his side’s performance.
Arne Engels was also frustrated with the first-45 but it shows the mentality of the runaway Scottish Premiership leaders that at 3-0 up there were still complaints from the perfectionist Rodgers and that it seems to be rubbing off on the players.
For BBC pundit and former Aberdeen captain Willie Miller, though, Rodgers used the wrong words at the end of the game in his post-match interview as, after such a win over a big rival, Miller was at a loss to explain the Celtic mindset.
Willie Miller questioned Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic reaction to beating Aberdeen 5-1
The retired defender was impressed by Celts and that’s why he was confused with Rodgers’ reaction to the performance and result.
“That was an interview that told me that Brendan Rodgers wasn’t particularly happy with the performance tonight. But when you won 5-1, you can’t say that. You’ve got to get your word right,” he said on Sportsound after the action.
“And I think it was the first half, absolutely. You could tell that he definitely wasn’t happy with the first half performance. But they had control in the second half, and Aberdeen didn’t have any energy.
“They had no press in the second-half, whereas in the first-half they did. So Aberdeen played a big part in Celtic being able to dominate that second half. But you’re not telling me after listening to that interview that Brendan was delighted with the performance.”
What Rodgers said after Celtic hammered Aberdeen
Celtic had four different goal scorers that evening in the form of Daizen Maeda, Jota, Yang and Callum McGregor who overtook Paul McStay in the scoring ranks of all-time.
But Rodgers still had plenty to say at the end of the fixture as he spoke about the half-time discussions he had with the squad.
“When you come off against one of your rivals, one of your big rivals up here and you can win 5-1 and still be not overly pleased with elements of the performance, then it shows you the standard that we demand. That’s a good thing, because you can always improve, even in a 5-1 win,” the gaffer said.
“That’s what we’ve spoken about. The whole point was to get to this point of the season in the best place we possibly could.
“We have 10 games to go, having the lead that we have, having already won a cup, having shown progress in Europe, we arrive now into this stage of the season where virtually from Saturday we’ll go into one game a week.”
‘You can’t say that’ – Pundit questions Brendan Rodgers Celtic complaints despite Aberdeen rout
