Brendan Rodgers would not have had much to complain about coming out of the Scottish League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen. It was a matchup between the two best teams in Scotland right now, with neither having lost a domestic game this season coming into the Hampden Park contest. Well, one of those streaks had to end. Celtic won 6-0, completely brushing aside Jimmy Thelin's in-form side, who had defeated the Rangers in midweek.
Daizen Maeda scored a hattrick. Kyogo was on the scoresheet at Hampden Park again as well. The other two goals came from Cameron Carter-Vickers and Nicolas Kuhn.
There is one issue that Celtic did face on the day though. Rodgers' team selection was leaked on social media. And while that did not end up having an effect on the result, it is certainly not ideal, especially when the manager is making plenty of changes.
This a problem that many teams face in modern football. One can only hope that Rodgers finds out how to stop his team news from leaking as soon as possible.
Brendan Rodgers unhappy with behind-the-scenes Celtic issue
Rodgers made his displeasure be know as well. As reported by RTE, the Celtic manager said:
"It’s obviously clearly disappointing. It’s something that we’ve seen before, and it’s not ideal, however it comes out.
"In the modern game, there’s no real secrets in football. That’s the reality of it. But it’s not nice when it gets out there. And especially if it’s out from Celtic supporters."
Rodgers further continued about the matter:
"So whoever is putting it out, if it’s someone from Celtic, you’re not a Celtic supporter.
"You’re not a Celtic supporter because you’re not helping Celtic. It’s as simple as that. If you’re not a Celtic supporter, we will do everything we can to find out."
Rodgers has a pretty solid squad right now, which means that he can change things up and keep oppoinents guessing. The midfield has Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, Arne Engels, Luke McCowan and Paulo Bernardo. At left-back, both Greg Taylor and Alex Valle are genuine starting options. Up front, Adam Idah is more than good enough to start. And it might be a toss between Liam Scales and Auston Trusty as Carter-Vickers' centre-back partner.
So, it is far from ideal if teams news comes out early and opponents get a bit of extra time to make adjustments. At the same time, perhaps Celtic can use that to their advantage.