Brendan Rodgers excited by Celtic’s early-season performances

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers admits he is excited by his team's early-season promise.

The Hoops followed up a 3-0 Champions League qualifying win over Alashkert with a 4-1 victory over Belgian Cup winners Standard Liege in a friendly at Parkhead on Saturday despite making 11 substitutions at half-time.

Rodgers was delighted with his team's football on a slicker surface following the installation of a new pitch and is optimistic they can build on their double-treble success.

Quoted on the Celtic website, Rodgers said: "It's still very early stages of pre-season, but if I think back to my first game when I came in a few years ago to where we're at now, and you look at both teams - the organisation through the phases of the pitch, the pressing, the speed of it all, the quality - it makes it all exciting.

"We still have a way to go to continue our work but it's good to see."

The 10 outfield players who started in Armenia on Tuesday played in the first half before Rodgers introduced a less experienced side after the interval.

And he feels they go into Wednesday's return leg in good shape.

"It was a perfect exercise for us, two lots of 45 minutes, all the players continuing with their fitness levels,'' he said.

"We will recover now and get ready for Wednesday and get the job done."

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