BRENDAN Rodgers last night played down speculation about Celtic winning their fourth treble this season after lifting his first trophy as a manager with a 3-0 victory over Aberdeen in the Betfred Cup final at Hampden.
The Parkhead club picked up the 100th trophy in their 128-year history thanks to goals from Tom Rogic, James Forrest and Moussa Dembele against their Pittodrie rivals.
The one-sided win has led to inevitable talk about Rodgers’s team, who are eight points clear of Rangers in the Ladbrokes Premiership with two games in hand, completing a domestic clean sweep in the 2016/17 campaign.
The Irishman, who only succeeded Ronny Deila as manager six months ago, admitted that his next objective was getting their second century of trophies underway by landing a sixth consecutive Scottish title.
But asked about the prospect of doing a treble this season, Rodgers said: “I’m just thinking about Motherwell on Saturday.
"The players need to celebrate this success, because that’s important. But after that we come back in and get ready for Motherwell, because we have a tough run of games in December.
“It’s about keeping on pushing standards. The standard today was very high in a pressurised cup final situation. There was a calmness, they played with great control, in defence and to attack. We scored some very good goals.
“I have to be pleased. But we are trying to improve standards on and off the field. We can never become complacent. It is still very early in shaping up the team, to play in a certain style. That’s going very well.
"There are things we can analyse, to see how we can improve, but ultimately the role was to win the cup and thankfully we’ve won it.”
Rodgers added: “It is a winning club. That is what the history of this great club has been based upon. So it marks a milestone, that century of trophies over the course of the history.
“Now we have got to look to the next one, to start off the next century of trophies. That will be important for us and the club.
"But, for now, it is a great night for the Celtic supporters to celebrate. They must have enjoyed the performance. But we push for the next one.”
Rodgers singled out his captain Scott Brown, who was once again outstanding in the centre of midfield, for special praise in the wake of the win over Derek McInnes’s team.
“I couldn’t be more proud for the team,” he said. “But if I am to say anything about getting my first trophy as Celtic manager, to have Scott as the captain is a huge honour.
“He is somebody who represents how we work every day. His intensity, his energy, his enthusiasm, his desire to be the best is no different whether it is out there today in a cup final or against Alloa.
“He is up for every game. His control of the game today was outstanding. He dominated the game today. Collectively, he really pulls the team together on the field. Tactically, you see him improving in his game as well. There were many outstanding performances, but, certainly he was right up there.”
Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager, admitted that his team had been well beaten, but he insisted the Pittodrie club would use the disappointment of the defeat as motivation and could still enjoy a successful season.
“It’s not been the experience we wanted,” he said. “It is important we pick ourselves up. I believe we can get back to another final this year in the Scottish Cup and I think we can use today’s sobering experience to help us going into the next one.
“I believe my team will get to another final and hopefully the experience of today helps us win another cup.”
He added: “We have plenty to kick on with, but I can only thank our massive support today. The display before the match was fantastic and they made a real effort to come down for the game. We’re disappointed for them as much as anybody.
“It’s a long way home for everybody when we lose but hopefully we can have better days going forward. I have every confidence in my players. For some of them this was their first final, but I’m sure they’ll be better for this defeat.
“It’s a test for us all. It’s now important the staff and players all stick together and recognise there is plenty to go for. We have loads to look forward to.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here