Rodgers salutes amazing Rogic
Football Soccer - Kilmarnock v Celtic - Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership - Rugby Park - 19/3/16 Celtic's Tom Rogic celebrates with teammates after scoring their first goal Action Images via Reuters / Graham Stuart Livepic EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Brendan Rodgers was delighted by the performance of the amazing Tom Rogic at Motherwell today.
Celtic trailed 2-0 and 3-2 but in the final minute of the match the Australian popped up with a match-winner to push the hoops three points closer to the title.
After going 10 hours without losing a goal domestically the hoops lost three in 90 minutes but found the resolve to rescue full points.
Rogic scored the opening goal in last week’s Betfred Cup Final win over Aberdeen and is delivering the goods to the manager who gave him an extended contract at the start of the season.
“He’s an amazing player,” Rodgers told the Celtic website. “With a real high level of technique and he’s improving his stamina all the time.
“He’s playing in different positions for us but what he can get goals and he’s scoring important goals. His contribution was outstanding.”
Substitute Callum McGregor reduced the deficit in the 48th minute before an exchange of goals saw the scores levelled at 3-3 with Patrick Roberts and Stuart Armstrong on target for the hoops.
It wasn’t Celtic’s best performance of the season but while staring at defeat Rodgers was pleased by some of the qualities his side displayed.
The Celtic boss explained: “We needed to change the momentum of the game so we changed the shape of the team, going to three-diamond-three to give them different problems and give us more numbers inside, keeping the width and it also allowed us to attack but still have the stability of the back-three.
“It was a big risk at 2-0, especially with the spaces that sometimes it can leave, but the players were exceptional in how they accepted the risk and the level they played at technically and how they worked the spaces tactically, and the goals were sublime.”