Brendan Rodgers insists there’s no pre-season panic despite his creaky Celtic shipping six goals in Yokohama. The Hoops boss admitted his undercooked stars suffered in the searing heat in Japan in the 10-goal thriller against local cracks F Marinos.
Daizen Maeda blasted a stunning first half hat-trick but the hosts came out on top 6-4 in a chaotic pre-season dust-up. Rodgers insisted he’s not worried about some of the dodgy defending – and admitted it was hard going after hopping time zones and then running into a side in the middle of their league campaign in blistering 30 degree temperatures.
The Parkhead boss said: “If we won 5-0 it wouldn’t have mattered either. The priority is getting the players ready for when it matters.
It’s quite a hard ask for the players to arrive late on the Monday, adapt to the time and then play in that heat against a very good team who are well into the season.