One question that was put to Brendan Rodgers come full-time in his side’s 2-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park had its answer even before the Celtic manager had addressed it.
There was really no need for the Northern Irishman to consider if his side would have prevailed at the Ayrshire venue a year ago had they played within themselves as they did on Sunday. The record books show that twice, in fact, they did not.
You look back at those losses away to Kilmarnock in the Premier Sports Cup in August and in the Premiership last December now, though, and they say much about the evolution of the side under the manager.
Even allowing for the exertions of beating RB Leipzig last Tuesday, the visitors were unconvincing at the weekend. Kilmarnock played better than they had done in any match against the Parkhead side in recent memory. Still Celtic found a way to get the job done.
In every conceivable sense, Rodgers’ men are in a better place from this point last season. They had 29 points in the Premiership after the first round of fixtures. Now they have 31. By this juncture in 2023, they’d one point from four Champions League games. This time they have seven.
That painful early exit from the League Cup summed up a difficult start to Rodgers’ second spell in charge. On December 15, Celtic will hope to extend their sparkling start to the campaign by defeating Rangers at Hampden.
Brendan Rodgers salutes the travelling fans after a hard-fought encounter at Rugby Park
McGregor’s goal set Celtic on their way to victory on the back of midweek European success
Kuhn continued his electric start to the season by scoring Celtic’s second at Kilmarnock
There’s no great secret to why the Scottish champions have kicked on. Throughout a fraught but ultimately productive summer transfer window, Rodgers repeatedly made the case for better players.
In landing Kasper Schmeichel, Adam Idah, Auston Trusty, Alex Valle, Arne Engels and Luke McCowan, the manager got the desired backing of his board.
He’s already justified that faith. With the final international break of the year now upon us, Rodgers has lost just one of 18 matches.
And as brutal as that reverse in Dortmund was, the way the side bounced back by taking four points from Atalanta and Leipzig underscored the improvement.
The Champions League table presently has them sitting in 15th place — ahead of behemoths like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and AC Milan. It makes a welcome change from the past two seasons which have seen the final group stage match classed as a dead rubber.
It was instructive that with the game in the balance on Sunday, Rodgers brought on McCowan, Bernardo, Kyogo Furuhashi and James Forrest.
Schmeichel and Trusty are just two of the summer recruits who have strenthened Celtic
When he lost his first domestic cup tie in Scotland 15 months previously at the same venue, his starting side included Gustaf Lagerbielke, Maik Nawrocki and Odin Thiago Holm. You do indeed get what you pay for.
With the first track of the Premiership track only just complete and Aberdeen lasting the pace, no one within Lennoxtown will welcome comparisons to Rodgers’ Invincibles side of 2016-17. In all likelihood, they’ll come a cropper at some point.
But after seeing them dig so deep to get the job done again, it would be a brave man who’d predict when that might happen.
After a difficult first season, Rodgers’ Celtic are absolutely flying. Where it all might lead to is the intriguing question.