Celtic came away from McDiarmid Park with all three points on Sunday. Second-half strikes from Calum McGregor, Matt O’Riley, and James Forrest helped secure victory in the end for Brendan Rodgers’ side.
Post-match, it was revealed that manager Rodgers was the angriest he’d ever been at half-time in his managerial. His team’s skipper, McGregor, admitted the effects of his fury will last a while. He said (Daily Record): “As a professional you never want to be called soft. That will sit with the players in three, four, five days’ time because nobody likes to get a sore one off the manager.”
Clearly, Rodgers was left annoyed at his team’s first-half display. Indeed McGregor thinks he and his teammates deserved their rollicking. He went on: “We have to take it on the chin and we deserved it. You never want to be soft. That’s the one thing when you’re a good football team and people try to look for areas to exploit then the last thing as a professional footballer you want to be called is soft. That hurts the group.”
Although Rodgers’ words may have hit home for some in the dressing room, they were undoubtedly effective because his team were different in the second half.
The Celts went on to score thrice to win the game, contrasting their awful start after a talking to from their boss.
