Brendan Rodgers sends Celtic reality check to academy graduates after Sligo Rovers audition
Brendan Rodgers has warned Celtic's academy starlets they have a long way to go before they have a chance of making a first-team breakthrough.
Rodgers fielded several young players in last night's 3-2 friendly win over Sligo Rovers and while some impressed, he made it clear that they must work on their "physicality" in order to make the step up to his high-intensity senior team. "A lot of them need to improve on that aspect of their game," he said. "They need to have more running power, they need to get in contention more.
"They have talent with the ball but that's nowhere near enough. That physicality allows them to play at a higher tempo. But it was nice for them to feel that and play in front of a crowd and play with that type of personality you need to play for Celtic. Some of them did really well."
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Scott Bain, Stephen Welsh, Maik Nawrocki, Alex Valle, Luke McCowan, Yang Hyun-jun and Luis Palma all started for Celtic against Sligo, with Palma, who has been frustrated at making just one competitive start this term, bagging a hat-trick.
"It was a really good exercise for us because a lot of our senior players got 90 minutes in, which was great," said Rodgers. "The second half was a better tempo than the first. It was excellent to come out to Ireland. Sligo were very good. It was a real good test, especially for some of our boys that haven't played for a little bit of time."