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"I KNOW WHY WE STRUGGLED": BRENDAN RODGERS AND GREG TAYLOR SPEAK AFTER CELTIC'S VICTORY OVER LIVINGSTON


Celtic saw their way past David Martindale's Livingston side to secure their place in the Scottish Cup semi-finals at Hampden Park next month.


It was a 4-2 victory for the Hoops, headlined by a hat-trick from Daizen Maeda on his 100th appearance for the club, but it was by no means a vintage performance from the team.


Celtic offered up far too many opportunities to the side that are currently languishing at the foot of the cinch Premiership, and Brendan Rodgers would have hoped for a far more comfortable afternoon against the Lions.


Brendan Rodgers and Greg Taylor both spoke to the media after today's victory and their comments revealed some very interesting assessments on the team's recent performances as well as the run up to the end of the season.


Here is a round-up of some of the key points that A Celtic State of Mind picked up from their post-match comments.


Greg Taylor

Speaking to Viaplay Sports, the former Kilmarnock man stated that "In the second-half, I don't we played quite how we should do. In the first-half we dominated, but we lost the goal which was disappointing.


"In the second-half, it wasn't the best of performances but we are through to the next round."


Most would agree that Celtic's performances recently, even when they have been winning, haven't been the greatest, with many matches proving to be a difficult watch for the supporters. When quizzed on this, Taylor said "There's probably a couple of things.


"We can be cleaner in our defending and our passing, we gave the opposition joy with the two goals we conceded which is disappointing.


"Livingston came here to compete with nothing to lose and they caused us some problems. We'll review this performance and we will look to be better."


He rounded off the interview by giving his take on Maeda's newly grown hair, stating that he wants to see it "whipped off, but if he keeps scoring like that then he can keep it."


Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers was extremely critical in his post-match assessment, stating to Viaplay Sports that "I want to give credit to my players but we didn't perform anywhere near the level that we wanted to. There were a few good individual performances and the players kept going right until the end, which was great.


"I know why we struggled. If you're missing the amount of players that we were, the football won't be the same. So once we get those players back, the level of performance will increase."


The losses of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Callum McGregor were noticeable, with Celtic's defence being anything but solid and the tempo of the game was far slower than supporters would have liked, something that the captain would have definitely changed had he been on the park.


He continued his assessment when speaking to the BBC as he said "It was too easy for them at times. We gave away so much space, that was the downside to the performance. In fairness to them they exploited it with two really good goals, and we weren't good enough in those moments."


The manager gave a fairly brutal assessment of the team's performance on the day, and he'll be hoping to be giving up a lot less chances when Celtic welcome St Johnstone to Parkhead next Saturday.


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