“It is his absolute dream,” Rodgers on Luke McCowan first Paradise goal

“It is his absolute dream,” Rodgers on Luke McCowan first Paradise goal

Brendan Rodgers was delighted for fellow Celtic supporter Luke McCowan who came off the bench for Celtic this afternoon to score Celtic’s second goal of the match to wrap up the three points.  

Speaking at his post match media conference the Celtic manager understood the significance of the moment for the £1m signing on transfer deadline day.

“It’s great. Any player playing for their boyhood team and to come on and he is still adapting a lot to the speed and tempo of the game,” the Celtic manager said.

“He will never lay down whether he starts the game or comes into the game and I think for a young guy who is a Celtic supporter, it is his absolute dream to be here, you can sense it in him every single day.

“To then actually score at Celtic Park and get that feeling from the supporters is brilliant for him. The supporters recognise it as well. I am so happy for him,” Brendan said.

1-0 Engels pic.twitter.com/nXe1JIQA5m

— Celtic Goals (@celticgoalsreal) September 14, 2024

Steven Naismith rues game-changing Celtic award but issues ‘month of games’ target

Hearts manager hoping fortune turns in coming weeks

Steven Naismith has promised Hearts will “grind through” a testing period as he lamented an inconsistent interpretation of the rules in his side’s 2-0 defeat to Celtic at Parkhead.

The defeat – Hearts’ fourth in a row in the league – has planted the Tynecastle side at the foot of the Premiership table. They head to St Mirren next weekend where it won’t get any easier. Naismith was frustrated by seeing a penalty award taken away from Hearts in the first half, after the ball had struck Liam Scales on the arm after a Lawrence Shankland header. Referee Colin Steven overturned his own decision following a VAR check.

It went from bad to worse for Hearts in the second half when a penalty, initially not given, saw the hosts go in front, with £11 million buy Arne Engels scoring on his full debut. The award was for a handball against left back James Penrice from Nicolas Kuhn’s cross. Naismith argued that neither awards were penalties and the referee had got it right in the first instance but wrong in the second.

Manager Steven Naismith greets Lawrence Shankland after taking the skipper off in Hearts’ 2-0 defeat to Celtic (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

“I don’t think our penalty is a penalty in the guidelines in terms of the distance between the players,” he said. “But I also don’t think theirs is a penalty.

“It’s down to opinion, but the images we were shown before the season, it’s all down to distance. It hits his arm, but for me there’s nothing he can do. The motion is the one that we were shown in pre-season. So I disagree with that and that’s a big moment in the game.

“We probably were a wee bit better in possession in the second half,” he said. “We believed a bit more and the crowd were getting frustrated. But when that goes in it changes it. And then the second goal comes when we open the game up a bit and there’s a bit more space.”

Returning to the penalties, he added: “What the interpretation has been is there are times the ball hits somebody’s hand and there’s nothing they can do.

“We accept that,” he added. “I just feel that both of them are in the same ballpark. I don’t think the distance between James and the ball is great enough that he can get his hand out the way.”

He is confident Hearts can start moving up the table. “We’ve now got a month of games before the international break and we need to win games,” he said. “But from what I’ve seen today, I think we’ll start picking up points.”

Celtic Face Saturday Night Backlash After Hearts Coverage

Celtic TV’s live coverage of the Hearts game on Saturday left many international fans frustrated, as technical issues plagued the broadcast.

For fans outside the UK and Ireland, Celtic TV is the only legitimate platform to watch live matches. The club recently rolled out a new and improved version of the service, finally upgrading from a 720 resolution feed to 1080hd —a long-awaited change. However, the new-look service didn’t live up to expectations during the Hearts game.

Many fans were treated to this image instead of the game at points on Saturday afternoon.

Many subscribers reported problems with the stream glitching throughout the match, with some viewers losing the feed entirely for over 30 minutes. Social media was awash with fans upset and venting at the poor coverage.

These issues, occurring during a highly anticipated game, were simply unacceptable for many fans, particularly given the reliance on the platform for live match coverage. With Celtic claiming to position themselves as a global brand, the failure to deliver a reliable service abroad is a major issue.

The persistent problems not only frustrate loyal supporters but also risk pushing them towards illegal streams, which often offer a smoother viewing experience.

As the only official source for live Celtic home games abroad, the club must address these concerns seriously. More technical failures like those seen on Saturday will likely turn subscribers away, leading to a further erosion of trust in Celtic TV’s service.

If Celtic are serious about building their international fanbase, significant improvements in the reliability of their streaming platform are essential. Fans abroad expect, and deserve, a seamless experience when tuning in to watch their team.

Celtic ran out 2-0 winners against Hearts, goals from Arne Engels and Luke McCowan saw the three points stay in Glasgow.

Now that Celtic have taken care of Hearts all attention turns to the Bhoys’ match against Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

The reigning Slovakian champions visit Glasgow on matchday one of the revamped tournament and will be underdogs against Brendan Rodgers’ side.

That’s not to say they won’t provide a threat. Coming through four rounds of qualifying during the summer, it’s clear that they know how to compete at a European level.

Preparations haven’t been great for their trip, however, with manager Vladimir Weiss Sr unable to be on the bench for their last two matches in the cup and league due to illness, as confirmed by the club’s official website.

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After missing a midweek win against AC Nitra, he was again absent for Saturday night’s match away to Dunajska Streda.

It has been reported by Slovakian media that he’s suffering from flu and doesn’t want it spreading through his squad.

Slovan Bratislava assistant oversees Saturday night win

Assistant coach Boris Kitka was the man in charge at the MOL Arena as they picked up a 2-1 Superliga win.

Dunajska Streda took the lead in the match after a Guram Kashia own goal before in-form winger Tigran Barseghyan netted an equaliser.

The Armenian international then scored a dramatic 90th-minute penalty to secure the three points and give his team a morale boost ahead of travelling to Scotland.

Remarkably, the home side then had the chance to draw from the penalty spot in injury time but Matej Trusa couldn’t convert.

Barseghyan has been Bratislava’s star man this season and now has eight goals from 12 matches in all competitions.

Slovakians are making history with Celtic Park appearance

It’s unclear whether Weiss Sr will be able to make the trip to Scotland to face Celtic or whether he will miss out again with illness.

It’s not an ideal situation for his club to be in for such an important fixture, though his health is obviously the most important thing.

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This is Slovan Bratislava’s first-ever appearance in the group stage of the Champions League and they’ve worked hard to make it with qualifying wins over the champions of North Macedonia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Denmark.

They’ll be relishing the chance to continue their dream run in Scotland and nothing can be taken for granted. We need the Bhoys on top form to get off to a flyer.

Celtic midfielder Paulo Bernardo was one of the team’s standouts in the recent derby win so some were surprised not to see him in the starting eleven against Hearts on Saturday.

The Portugal U21 captain was named on the bench with new signing Arne Engels taking his spot in the team, to great effect.

Brendan Rodgers’ decision ended up fully justified after Engels produced a man-of-the-match calibre performance and scored his first goal after bravely putting himself forward to take a penalty.

Bernardo did get minutes, coming on after 66 minutes in place of Reo Hatate to help the Bhoys push towards a 2-0 victory.

Brendan Rodgers addresses his Celtic team selection vs Hearts

After the match, asked if it was a tough decision to leave the Portuguese out after the way he played against Rangers, Rodgers stated [Celtic Way]: “I have to prepare the team for the season. It’s no good having a strong squad and then not using the players. I like to make minimal changes, but I will still make changes.

“I felt that it was important for Engels to come in and get that feeling playing in the team, trying to understand some of the patterns, because then we can look at and analyse the game with him for areas he can be better in.

“I want to build a team here that has power, speed and unpredictability. He certainly gives us that on a European level.

“He’s come in and played in the top 5 leagues in Europe and played very well in that. That’s a player that we need, and we’re very happy that he’s chosen to come here.

“I wanted to get him in – Paulo’s been brilliant, so I’m happy he’s here. There are other players waiting in the wings too to get game time. It’s such a long season, and they’ll get that.”

Paulo Bernardo will play an important role for Celtic

Engels also returned to Bhoys training from international duty earlier in the week than Bernardo, so it made sense to give him the nod.

Rodgers is spot on with his comments here and hopefully as the season progresses there’s more understanding that this isn’t an issue that really needs to be justified by the manager.

Bernardo is going to get plenty of game time at Celtic and there’s a strong chance he starts against Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday. That wouldn’t be a surprise at all.

It’s a blessing to have two young talents vying for one position in the team and we might even see one of them preferred to Reo Hatate on occasion. Bernardo has no reason to be concerned, he’ll be an important cog in the machine this term.

Rotation is natural and needed. As long as it’s in service to the team and overall performance then there can be no complaints.

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Why Rodgers was happy about a ‘special moment’ vs Hearts

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers ahead of the Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park, Glasgow. Picture date: Saturday September 14, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story SOCCER Celtic. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Use (Image: Andrew Milligan)

Everything that Brendan Rodgers said to Celtic TV after the 2-0 Scottish Premiership win over Hearts…

It felt like a more hard-fought win than perhaps some of them so far, but are you proud of the endeavours of the players today?

Yes. I think on the back of an international break you always hope that the players will come back and show up. I thought there were a lot of moments in the game where we were really good. Hearts came to make it really difficult and they worked very hard. There was good physicality in the team and if we had scored the goal earlier then it might have been different. We had a few chances, Arne (Engels) got in and flashed it over, he also hit the post and we had a great chance with Kyogo (Furhashi). If we had got that goal in the first 20 minutes it would have opened the game up for us. We didn’t quite manage to do that. I still thought we looked lively and creative and Craig Gordon made a couple of good saves as well. In these games, you have got to show up and the players showed up very well. They kept pushing and they got the penalty and then we got the second goal and unfortunately, the third goal was ruled out for offside. Overall, it was very pleasing and I believe the players have broken a record as well which is always nice.

This record stretches back to 1906 and it is the best start to a season since then with five wins in the opening five matches and five clean sheets. You will take as much pride from that as the goals, won’t you?

Yes. I said to the players beforehand our objective is to win but if there is a record there then we might as well go for it and try and push and get it. The players had that extra added bit of mentality to their game and I think you could see that. The pressing was excellent and doubling up and restricting them to not so many opportunities. They went right to the end and guys who had travelled a long way kept running and kept fighting to the end to keep that clean sheet mentality. That is important in any top team and the players demonstrated that.

You have mentioned in the past that playing for Celtic brings its own pressure as there is an expectancy to win. Early in the second half when there are no goals and you get a penalty kick. A young man then confidently steps up and scores. That is quite the thing to do, isn’t it?

Yes, absolutely. It was a really cool finish from Arne. We needed one way or another to break through and get the goal and he showed great composure to be able to do that. I was really pleased for Arne as he was excellent in the game. He showed good running and good physicality and he finished it with aplomb.

The impact of your substitutes came to the fore again as Luke McCowan scored his first goal for Celtic with the second one and it was very important, Adam Idah has come on and unfortunately had a goal disallowed. However, you will be pleased to see the squad doing exactly what you need from them, won’t you?

Yes. It is what we need as we are going into a very busy period now over these coming months. We needed to give those guys some minutes in their legs and to come in and contribute even more so. It’s such a special moment for Luke. He is a Celtic supporter and to score in the game and to have that feeling from the crowd. We all saw the joy that he had for himself by becoming a Celtic player and he felt that in the whole stadium when he got his goal. It was a special moment for him and it was a really good finish against Craig Gordon who is a top goalkeeper.

The attention will now turn to Matchday One of the Champions League and assuming there is very little needed in terms of motivation for the players. What will that look like given the travelling some of them have done and the intense match they faced today?

We will just recover now and put a plan in place for Wednesday. I am so excited by that. Today was important to get off to a good start this week as we are playing in three competitions so it was important to get the victory. Everybody remembers a year ago when we lost 2-0 to Hearts and it wasn’t very nice and it didn’t feel good. Now you see where the team is at as they have a mentality that is really strong and everyone is contributing. It was a really good result.

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Rodgers ready to take the game to Bratislava as Celtic look to make a flying start in Europe

Brendan Rodgers is confident Celtic can make an impact in this year’s Champions League — and has vowed to go all guns blazing against Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday night.

Celtic made it five wins from five at the start of the new season courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Hearts at Parkhead yesterday afternoon.

Signed for a club record fee of £11million last month, Belgian midfielder Arne Engels marked his first start for his new club with a goal, with fellow new recruit Luke McCowan sealing the three points late in the game.

Rodgers now turns his attention to a meeting with Bratislava in Glasgow on Wednesday night, with fans keen to see the team make more of an impression on the Champions League.

Celtic could only muster four points in the Champions League last season and eventually finished bottom of their group. But with a squad now tooled-up with some big-money signings, Rodgers insists Celtic will go on the attack.

Asked about a return to Champions League duty, he said: ‘Yes, I’m excited by it. We’ve got good balance in the squad.

Brendan Rodgers gives fans the thumbs up after Celtic beat Hearts on league duty

New arrival Arne Engels celebrates after netting his first goal for Celtic from the penalty spot

‘We’ve got areas, of course, that I would want to improve later on. But we’ve done a hell of a lot of work and real, real good work over the course of the summer.

‘We go into it in a real positive place. The mindset is strong. We’re ready to attack.

‘We know the level that we’re playing at, but it’s OK. We will go and we’ll give it everything. We want to make a really positive start on Wednesday and we’re looking forward to it.

‘Managing Celtic or playing for Celtic, people say it’s easy. It’s not easy. It’s certainly not, because of the demand, the expectation, the mentality that you need to succeed.

‘Thankfully, we have a winning culture. But it (the challenge) was to make the next step. And the next step is probably Europe.

‘At the very highest level, it was a real, real challenge for us. For so many good managers before me, it’s been a challenge.

‘But we’re hoping now that with a strong squad, with improvements still to make, in our play, that we can go and really attack it.’

Rodgers was impressed by the performance from Engels, who only turned 21 during the recent international break.

Insisting there is much more to come from the young Belgian, the Celtic boss said: ‘He’s going to be a really good player for us.

‘He’s tall, he’s athletic, he can run, his touch is good. He’s aggressive, he presses, he counter-presses. I really like him, that’s why we brought him here.

‘And at 21 years of age, he’s only going to improve.’

Luke McCowan, who joined from Dundee on deadline day, bends in his first Celtic goal

While Kasper Schmeichel made it five Premiership clean sheets in a row for the club

Meanwhile, Hearts boss Steven Naismith bemoaned some of the refereeing decisions and the use of VAR — insisting that it went against both teams at times.

Celtic were awarded a penalty following a handball against James Penrice, whilst Hearts had a penalty ruled out after Liam Scales also seemed to have handled the ball.

Referee Colin Steven initially gave the decision against Scales, only to then overturn it following a lengthy VAR check.

‘I don’t think our penalty is a penalty in the guidelines in terms of the distance between the players,’ said Naismith, whose side have now lost seven on the spin. ‘But I also don’t think theirs is a penalty.

‘It hits his arm, but for me there’s nothing he can do. So I disagree with that and that’s a big moment in the game.

‘We’ve got a young squad, but I’ve seen enough positives through this season to know that that we will come strong.’