Brendan Rodgers admitted Celtic’s first-half defending was ‘nowhere near’ the level required after watching his side stretch their lead at the top of the Premiership with a 3-0 win over wasteful Hibernian.
Midfielder Arne Engels opened the scoring at Parkhead in the sixth minute but the visitors spurned several opportunities before the break, with Mykola Kukharevych thwarted twice by Celtic keeper Kasper Schmeichel.
An Adam Idah header was turned into his own net by Easter Road skipper Joe Newell before Celtic added a classy third through substitute Kyogo Furuhashi.
But Rodgers was concerned at the standard of play from his back line and warned that they will have to improve for the challenges ahead — which start with a testing Champions League trip to face Dinamo Zagreb in midweek before the Premier Sports Cup final against Rangers on Sunday.
Rodgers, who made five changes for yesterday’s visit of Hibernian, said: ‘Obviously delighted with the win. Third game this week, on the back of a game (against Aberdeen) in midweek, a tough game away from home.
‘So to come here and get the victory and keep a clean sheet, great. Some of our attacking play was very good, scored good goals, created more chances.
Engels scored to put Celtic in front early on but Hibs were more than a match for the champions
Kyogo Furuhashi climbed off the bench to add a bit of gloss to the scoreline late on
Brendan Rodgers warned his Celtic team they will have to improve on their display against Hibs
‘Defensively, for our standard, nowhere near it. Not the level that I would expect and want. But sometimes that’s part of when you do make changes, so that’s on me.
‘That defensive side, which is our start point, our pressing, counter-pressing, wasn’t so good in the first half. There are always things to improve on in our performance.’
Rodgers hailed the impact of veteran winger James Forrest, who replaced Nicolas Kuhn for the start of the second half. He added: ‘James is one of the best players, probably the best player I’ve ever worked with in my career at retaining the ball on the side.
‘People will look at it and say it’s because of maturity. No, no, he was doing that when I was here in 2016.
‘He’s the best player at receiving the ball on the side of the pitch when it’s tight, left side or right side, to keep hold of the ball. And then that allows you to sustain the attack. Too often I felt that we gave it away in the first half.’
Hibs boss David Gray admitted what he had witnessed was ‘quite difficult to digest at the moment’. He said: ‘We knew that when you get opportunities here you need to take them.
‘That’s very clear because of how good Celtic are, how dominant they’ve been for a while now.
‘We knew it was going to be a real tough test. But it’s mixed emotions because of what I’m asking the players to do, the amount of chances we created in the match.
Hibs boss David Gray was proud of the way his team created so many clear opportunities
‘The way we played throughout the game, for large periods of the game, showing that bravery and composure on the ball, which I asked for, was really great to see.
‘The issue is we came away losing the game 3-0, so I’m never going to come away accepting the fact we’ve lost the game.
‘But it also shows the effort and desire and how far we’ve come that we are actually coming away from a place like this disappointed.
‘I can’t remember a Hibs team coming and creating so many clear-cut chances, so much so their goalkeeper wins man of the match.
‘I think that’s a reflection on how well the players have done for periods in the game as well.’