Brendan Rodgers demanded his players show a Champions League mentality before they’ve even left for Dortmund.
Celtic will attempt to scale the famous Yellow Wall in Germany on Tuesday night and they could have had half an eye on that when the rolled into Perth to take on St Johnstone in the Saturday evening kick-off. But Rodgers wanted his men to think like a Champions League outfit at McDiarmid Park, and they played like a side with a seat at Europe’s top table, blowing Saints away with three goals in each half to rack up a 6-0 rout.
It ended up being a Perthshire parade, but Rodgers insists this was no simple tick box exercise, and he was delighted with the way the champions ruthlessly flexed their muscles against the Saints to warm up for a far sterner test on the continent in midweek. “I said to the players before the game that this was an opportunity for us to show a mentality,” he told Premier Sports.
“A lot of the noise before this game has virtually all been about Dortmund. But for me, I wanted a Champions League mentality here this evening and I thought the boys were absolutely brilliant.
“They controlled a lot of the game. The pleasing aspect was the counter pressing because that’s area I want us to be different in to other teams, because the football talent is there. There were some brilliant goals and it was a really good night for us.
“We want to keep our rhythm going. I broke the rhythm up last week when I made all the changes. I expected that, I didn’t expect us to be so fluid.
“Some of the guys coming in this evening, Auston Trusty coming in and looking good even though he’s playing off the other side. Young Alex Valle coming in at left back showing his composure and quality.
I’ve just said to the guys there. Nothing pleases me more than Daizen Maeda making a tracking run in the 86th minute, because tells you the hunger and mentality in the team.
“This was a game of perspective and it’s how you look at it. Most people were looking at it as just a tick box exercise and then go to Dortmund. For me, it was the opportunity to show a really good mentality.
‘When you look at a team, it’s when you’re expected to win when you judge them. Everyone will be flying on Tuesday night, but I want to see what they do when they come here or when they go to these other grounds. That’s when you’ll feel whether you;re a Celtic player or not, because you need to have the attitude and it was brilliant tonight.”