Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers believes it is a ‘crime’ that he cannot give several of his peripheral players more playing time.
It comes after the Hoops romped to a dominant 4-1 victory over Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday evening.
After a dull first half, Kyogo Furuhashi scored early in the second half, and Nicolas Kuhn doubled the visitors’ lead with a fantastic breakaway finish.
Substitute striker Adam Idah then got in on the action, scoring twice each side of Musa Drammeh’s stunning consolation goal for the Jambos.
As the game progressed and the Hoops’ lead grew, manager Rodgers made many substitutions, including Paulo Bernardo, Idah, Yang Hyun-jun, James Forrest, and Anthony Ralston.
Speaking after the game, the Celtic boss confessed it’s a ‘crime’ that he can’t give those lads more playing time: “I’ve said it before, it’s a crime that I can’t play some of these players from the start,” Rodgers stated (The Celtic Way).
“But they know they’ll receive starts throughout this time, but it’s having an affect. Whether you start the game or enter it, that is the role that they play and will occasionally perform.
“So it’s just trying to control the players’ minutes so that the team stays energised and intense. And we’ll need that in the coming months.
The Hearts victory began a tough run of games for the Scottish Premiership winners. With no winter break in Scotland this year, there will be no hiatus in the schedule until March of next year.
Rodgers has previously demonstrated that he is not afraid to rotate the team, and with only nine games remaining before the new year, we should expect to see frequent changes in the coming weeks and months.
Bernardo and Idah, in particular, had a significant impact on proceedings yesterday night, leaving the manager perplexed ahead of Club Brugge’s UEFA Champions League visit to Glasgow on Wednesday.
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