Nicolas Kuhn change explained as Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers ranks James Forrest best EVER in key area

Brendan Rodgers watched Celtic go 30 games unbeaten in Scotland with a win over Hibs - but urged them to tighten up ahead of a Champions League trip to Zagreb.

The Hoops extended their lead at the top of the Premiership with a 3-0 victory thanks to goals from Arne Engels, Kyogo Furuhashi and a Joe Newell OG. But Rodgers’ wasn’t satisfied with their defensive display as the Hibees racked up NINE shots on target. Celtic keeper Kasper Schmeichel was man-of-the-match against the Hibees and Rodgers knows they can’t afford to give away chances in Croatia on Tuesday night.

It’s a massive week for Celtic with Zagreb in Europe then the Premier Sports Cup Final against Rangers at Hampden next Sunday. The manager was pleased with their offensive display and yet another three points domestically. But he wants to see improvements in midweek.

Rodgers said: “Obviously, I’m delighted with the win. It’s been a tough week so to get a victory and a clean sheet was great. Our attacking play was very good. We scored good goals and created more chances. But defensively, for our standard, it was nowhere near it. It wasn’t at the level I’d expect or want.

“But sometimes that’s to do with the changes you make and that’s on me. But the defensive side, which is our starting point, wasn’t good in the first half today.

“Is it fair to say we can’t give up that many chances on Tuesday? Yeah, but if you’ve watched us this season, we haven’t been. That’s not been the case. Our main principle has always been our pressing and that’s why we’ve conceded a low amount of goals But today we were just that little bit late to press, we weren’t quite there on duels and if you lose out on that - teams can hurt you.”

Rodgers now faces a huge seven days with Zagreb