Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers refuses to slam stunned stars after Yokohama shocker – as he dismisses two transfer rumours
BRENDAN RODGERS refused to slam his stunned Celts — and insisted they were just jaded in Japan.
His Hoops were battered 6-4 by reigning J.League champs Yokohama F. Marinos.
Daizen Maeda scored a first-half hat-trick against his old club in the Nissan Stadium.
But despite seeing his defence ship six goals to Kevin Muscat’s men, Celtic gaffer Rodgers was in a forgiving mood.
He said: “It’s quite a hard ask for the players to arrive late on the Monday, adapt to the time difference and then play in that heat against a very good team who are well into the season.
“We had some very good moments in the game, and scored some good goals.
Read More Football Stories
“We gave away some goals I wouldn’t expect us to be losing later on in pre-season.
“It’s still a period where we are developing the structure and the fitness though.
“If we won 5-0 it wouldn’t have mattered either. The priority is getting the players ready for when it matters.”
Maeda was outstanding for Celts with three first-half strikes.
Most read in Football
But Rodgers’ side eventually wilted in the searing 32-degree heat to end up losing heavily after 90 minutes.
Joe Hart was badly at fault for the opening goal just four minutes in, and found himself replaced at half-time by understudy Benji Siegrist.
The Swiss keeper’s only previous appearances for the Hoops since signing last summer were in two Premier Sports Cup games before the turn of the year.
Asked in the post- match press conference if the ex-England star was his undisputed No 1, Rodgers insisted: “It’s a period of the season where we are only a few weeks in, and assessing every player and where we are at.
“We could have been better for the first goal before it got to Joe.
“It’s 25 yards out and we have a player turning inside our organisation, which shouldn’t happen.
“We had a number of mistakes for the goals, losing possession and otherwise.
“As I said before, I am assessing everything at the moment.
“It was a really good exercise for us.
“It was also a real challenge from a physical perspective.
“We have just arrived in Japan, and we played against a team who are more than halfway into their season.
“That was always going to be a challenge.
“There were some really good bits in the game and the goals were excellent.
“We gave away poor goals, but we will get fitter and improve the structure of the team as we go along.”
Hat-trick hero Maeda dialled back his goal celebrations to respect his former club and fans.
He said: “I was looking forward to today so I’m happy I was able to score.
“Of course we wanted to win, but there were a lot of fans looking forward to this match, and I think it was an interesting game.
“We came straight out of training camp to come to Japan so it was probably always going to be this kind of game.”
On the atmosphere — fans weren’t allowed to cheer when he was at Marinos due to Covid rules — he added: “It made me realise again how great a club they are. They are like family.”
Read more on the Scottish Sun
Meanwhile, Rodgers has dismissed reports linking Celtic with FC Future’s Egyptian attacker Mohamed Reda and Gremio winger Ferreira.
He said: “I don’t even know these players, to be quite honest.”
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page