What Brendan Rodgers told his Celtic players at half-time to punish Slovan Bratislava in Champions League

What Brendan Rodgers told his Celtic players at half-time to punish Slovan Bratislava in Champions League

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was overjoyed with his team’s 5-1 Champions League victory over Slovan Bratislava at Celtic Park.

It was a total team performance. Off the ball, Celtic were tenacious in regaining possession and, when they did, possessed the ruthlessness and talent to punish their opponents.

Five different players scored goals, including Liam Scales, Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, Arne Engels, and Adam Idah. The Bhoys led 1-0 at halftime but blew Slovan Bratislava away in the second half.

Brendan Rodgers’ half-time Celtic team talk in Champions League

When asked what he advised his players at the midway point to help them win the game so easily, Rodgers told TNT Sport: “We just reiterated that we don’t have to do anything special.” Just be ourselves. Just play our game; don’t complicate it.

“There were a few issues regarding the location. When we took the ball to one side and returned it to the other, our alignment was off, so we had to play sideways or backwards instead of forwards.

“There were just a couple of elements like that, but also reinforcing a lot of the really good pressing elements.”

The ‘wow’ verdict as Celtic thump Slovan Bratislava

It is safe to say that the coaching staff’s counsel paid off. Rodgers’ overall assessment of the game was excellent.

He went on: “The second half, wow. Just the players’ greed, hunger, pushing, counter-pressing, and team spirit. I was ecstatic, and the goals were of exceptional quality.

“In many of the teams I’ve been on, goal contributions are split throughout the club because we don’t want to put too much on one guy. The guys are pretty clear about what they have to do.

“It’s such a selfless group, they set each other up and it’s all about the quality of the delivery and the guys delivered it so well.”

It’s great to hear the manager excited about the club’s path, and with big games looming in Europe, it’s intriguing to see what he can get the team to produce next.

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