'We need quality' - Brendan Rodgers makes Celtic transfers confession after cup defeat at Kilmarnock

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has confessed to the need for “quality” additions in the closing weeks of the transfer window after suffering his first cup loss at the helm of the club.

Brendan Rodgers reacts as Celtic crash to a 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock in the Viaplay Cup. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Conceding that his team were “nowhere near the level” they needed to be in the 1-0 Viaplay Cup defeat against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, he suggested market moves would be required to address their shortcomings.

Four summer signings featured across a lame display for his men – to make it an encounter of the type he avoided in winning all 24 cup ties he faced in his first spell – with Gustaf Lagerbielke and Odin Thiago Holm earning debuts, Maik Nawrocki partnering Lagerbielke, and Yang Hyun-jun coming off the bench. All in their early 20s and relatively experienced, Rodgers was asked if he would be required to target players in their late 20s – Kyogo Furuhashi and Carl Starfelt two early Ange Postecoglou signings in that bracket.

“We want good players, whatever age they are,” he said. “We need quality, that’s for sure. Hopefully between now and the end of the window we can improve the squad. Clearly the model of the club is to bring the players in at a younger age and develop them and improve them. But we are not against bringing in someone at 26 or 27 if they can improve the squad.”

Rodgers chose to distance himself from what he had achieved previously at Celtic with seven straight trophy successes in his term between May 2016 and February 2019 in being asked to assess how much of a setback it was to him experiencing a first cup defeat as Hoops manager.

“I think when I came in here before and won trebles people think that's just what you come in and do,” he said. “It is a very difficult thing to do and you see with this defeat that magnifies the achivement from before. It is a new cycle and I want to win every game as the Celtic manager and this is bitterly disappointing. Of course, it is always a setback when you go out of a cup competition but we have 24 hours to get over it and there is a long season ahead and many things to play for so that is what we will work on.

“I said at the beginning when I came in here that this was not a continuation. Good teams aren't born. There are new players in, players have left. So we have to work very hard and if we think that it is just going to happen then that is not going to be the case at Celtic. You have to settle in very quickly. The new players will have seen that, the young players coming into the club with a huge expectation but they will get better and improve. On days like today even though it is a sore one you have got to take your medicine and stay together and move onto the next game.”