Joe Hart gets Celtic clanger reprieve but Brendan Rodgers admits he is 'assessing everything' amid Marinos goal glut
The Hoops boss looked elsewhere to explain the first goal his team lost in thrilling Yokohama friendly.
Brendan Rodgers refused to dig out Joe Hart for his howler in a bonkers friendly defeat to Yokohama F Marinos.
The Celtic keeper let the ball squirm out of his hands to hand the hosts the lead in Japan, and what followed was a goalfest, with Daizen Maeda's hat-trick not enough to prevent Rodgers' side from slipping to defeat in the first fixture of their tour. it was 6-3 by the time David Turnbull pulled one back, but neither defence had covered itself in glory by that point.
Hart was very much at fault for the first though and with his veteran's contract up next summer, succession planning will be underway for a new No 1 between the sticks eventually. But his clanger isn't likely to speed that process up if Rodgers' reaction is anything to go by as the Irishman pinpointed errors long before Hart made a key mistake.
"It's a period of the season where we're only a few weeks in and assessing where we're at. We could have been better for the first goal before it got to Joe. 25 yards out and there's a player turning within our organisation. But I think we made a number of mistakes for the goals that we gave away. I'm assessing everything at the moment."
It was something of a successful homecoming for Maeda despite the defeat given his goals. Rodgers doesn't know his Japanese contingent as well as his predecessor did, but he's loving what they're giving him only a few weeks into his reign.
He added: "These players, their attitude and energy in everything that they do, on and off the pitch, is great. The humility that they have and how they work and present themselves is first class. They're also very talented footballers.
"You saw Daizen. It was a brilliant performance and I'm very happy for him to come back and play so well. He scored three and maybe could have had one or two more. he was excellent in the game and the other players contributed, some more than others over the past few years."
Defensively, there is work to be done. But Rodgers reckons more fitness work and sorting out the structure will see that sorted soo enough.
"I think it was a really good exercise for us," he said of the 90 minutes. " It was always going to be a challenge, firstly from a physical perspective. We arrived here in Japan on Monday and were into a game in hot conditions, against a team that are more than halfway into the season.
"But there were some really good bits in the game. Some of our goals were excellent. I thought Maeda was exceptional in his performance. It was everything you'd want in a striker; running, movement and pressing.
"We gave away some poor goals but a lot of that will be due to fitness and improving the structure of the team as we go along. So all in all, a really good exercise for us. in a really good atmosphere. The result isn't the priority at this point so we'll prepare for when it matters."