Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers spoke to Sky Sports after today’s 0-0 draw with Dundee United that extends Celtic’s lead over second placed theRangers to nine points in the Scottish Premiership…
Sky Sports: “Brendan, a draw in the end. What’s you overall thoughts?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, we arrived in all the areas that we wanted to and we were in there often enough, but my feeling in the game was that we didn’t work the keeper enough. We had so many opportunities, but we were in there and we never hit the target. So, as I said, we passed it well through and connected the game and, as I said, the keeper made a really good save at the end whenever Arne (Engels) sort of poked it through the legs and he had to react quickly.
Great chance
“We had a great chance, we cleared those well and we were in, as I said, in the areas that we wanted to be and we just, especially first half, I didn’t think we worked the keeper enough. But guys like Steven Welsh coming in today, I thought was excellent. He and Scalesy were very good. Difficult conditions with the wind and everything, but yeah, it just looked like we couldn’t score.”
Sky Sports: What do you put that first half down to, being blunt in terms of not being able to test the goalkeeper enough?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, it’s just that, being clinical, I think that, as you say, you always want to hit the target, and in a couple of other moments as well where, again, we got into really good areas, crossed it, and we just weren’t quite reading it well enough or anticipating the run to get in there.
“So, that had just been a little bit more ruthless in our finishing and, as I said, making the keeper work, that’s about accuracy and being clinical. But I can’t fault the effort of the players, where they came from and some of the quality of the football was very good. Created enough chances, we could have had more possibilities but, like I say, it just wasn’t to be.”
Sky Sports: You mentioned the conditions, how tough was it out there?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, it was, but I thought both teams coped very well and, compared to Dundee United, they were, you know, they worked very, very hard. It’s then in the game and maybe if we pick one or two of the opportunities away in the first half, then it opens it up a little bit more for us.
“But, once you don’t score and you don’t take the chances then, it gives them that little bit more encouragement. But I thought both teams dealt very well with it. It was tricky but, for us, lots of fast, low passes helped us in the game and, you could say, we played some good football in those conditions.”
READ THIS…“The players have been absolutely brilliant up until this point, I can’t complain,” Brendan Rodgers
Here’s Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin’s post match media conference…
