After his performance against Rangers, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers identified one of his players as genuinely underappreciated.
The Scottish Premiership winners are off to a great start in the current campaign, which was maintained on Sunday with a comfortable victory over longtime rivals Rangers.
The Hoops appeared to be in control of the match from the beginning, and it didn’t take long for their dominance to pay off as they defeated their opponents 3-0 to extend their winning streak to four games.
After Celtic defeated Rangers, pundits respond. Despite the loss of Matt O’Riley, one of Celtic’s most important players, during the summer transfer window, the Bhoys had a successful summer as they added eight players over the course of the last few months, strengthening vital areas.
Paulo Bernardo, who joined the team from Benfica earlier this summer, and Arne Engels, who will attempt to replace O’Riley, fulfilled Brendan Rodgers’ desire to ensure that his team would be prepared should they lose one of their better players.
The strong summer of business has helped the club make a good start to the season, and that continued on Sunday as the Hoops brushed aside Rangers in emphatic style.
Former Rangers striker Billy Dodds labelled Celtic a “very good team” and one that is playing with confidence after their win on Sunday. Dodds told Sportsound (via BBC Sport): “Celtic are a very good team – they are in such a rich vein of form, and they play with confidence, pace and energy.”
Meanwhile, another former Rangers striker, Kris Boyd, believes Rangers are miles behind Celtic, as they are better than them all over the pitch. Boyd told Sky Sports: “Forget Celtic. Rangers are miles off. Celtic are better than Rangers all over the pitch.”
While these pundits were lauding Celtic, Rodgers was keen to leave praise for a certain individual after his impressive performance against the Gers.
Rodgers sees Celtic player as underrated after Rangers display
Rodgers believes Celtic defender Liam Scales and other players like him may not be the “sexiest of players” because they haven’t been signed for a lot of money, but the manager sees the likes of Scales as invaluable.
Rodgers said about Scales to the BBC: “He had a fantastic season last season, and sometimes the guys that come in that are either Scottish or from Ireland, they might not feel to be the sexiest of players; we might not have signed them for a lot of money, but these guys… I don’t know where we would have been without Liam Scales last year.
“His robustness; he plays games, he hardly ever gets injured, and again, he stood up today.”
This praise from Rodgers comes after the defender won every duel he had during the 3-0 win over Rangers. Scales played the full 90 minutes at Parkhead, making five clearances, blocked two shots and made two interceptions.
Furthermore, he won all three of his ground duels that he had in the game, while he also won all five of his aerial duels. Scales had 93 touches of the ball in the 90 minutes, finishing the game with an 88% pass accuracy. He was also given a Sofascore rating of 7.9 for his performance against Rangers, so Rodgers’ praise was certainly not undeserved.
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