Former Celtic captain and club ambassador Tom Boyd says that Brendan Rodgers’ side is the most exciting he has seen at Parkhead since Tommy Burns was the manager of the club.

The promising start to the Rodgers regime was kicked into overdrive on Wednesday night as a display of electrifying attacking football saw Motherwell demolished by five goals to nil in the Betfred Cup.

Boyd was among the Celtic fans on the night, and he was as excited as any other supporter by the display. When asked if it was the best football he had seen at Celtic Park since his days playing under the legendary Burns in the nineties, Boyd said: “I would certainly say so.

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“I think Brendan has the players and the key thing is the pace they play at. You look at the options of James (Forrest) and Scott (Sinclair), there are not many quicker than them in the Scottish league. “(Leigh) Griffiths has to come back and (Moussa) Dembele looks sharp. There is a lot of pace in the team.

“I was speaking to a couple of supporters and they were likening it to the pace the team had going back to Bobby Lennox, Stevie Chalmers and guys like that.

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“That kind of pace that can cause problems. Defenders hate that because a long ball over the top can do you.

“There is certainly a lot of joy in the way the team is playing and you can see that in the response of the crowd, which has come back and given full support.

“It is [more like the Celtic way of playing]. And I think it is about players reacting to a manager.The Herald:

“You look at Ronny (Deila) and the style of football he wanted to play last season, but for whatever reason it didn’t quite work out. And at times it was turgid.

“There will be games when it is far more difficult than it was against Motherwell. But we certainly hope that will continue.”

Boyd was enthralled by the performances of Scott Sinclair and James Forrest against Motherwell, and has been impressed by the way Celtic boss Rodgers has already turned around the seemingly flagging fortunes of both players.

“Scott looks very, very sharp and you’ve seen in a short space of time a huge transformation in a player who struggled last season,” he said.

“He’s playing for a manager who really supports him and is going to bring the best out of him.

“If this is him short of full fitness then I’m excited about seeing him getting even better. There’s nothing more frightening to a defender than raw pace.

“As a defender, whether at full-back or centre-back, when you see someone like that in full-flight they’re the most difficult players to play against, particularly ones who can go left or right like him.

“I’ve had that with plenty of players throughout my career where you are wondering what you can do here, and just hoping that someone is around to help you.

“Motherwell did it on occasion when they tried to get help to their teammates, but on other occasions it was just sheer skill to go by the player.

“He was ably assisted by quite a few players too. I thought Tom Rogic was outstanding and young James Forrest has found a new lease of life.The Herald: Celtic's Tom Rogic skips over Motherwell's Marvin Johnson.

“It looks as though Brendan has had the same impact on him as he has had on Scott, he has given him confidence and a new contract as well.

“So things are looking good in terms of our level of performance.”

Former Rangers centre-back Colin Hendry has meanwhile warned the new arrivals at Ibrox that they cannot afford to come second to Celtic in the Premiership.

Despite manager Mark Warburton spending relatively modestly in the summer, Hendry knows that the Rangers supporters will be demanding success this season.

“Rangers might not have the finances of Celtic but the fans have the same expectations," Hendry said.

“You don’t look at Rangers being a club on the up, which they are. To the fans, it’s Rangers and they should be performing. I understand that expectation.

“It was the same for me when I arrived. I’d been playing in the Premiership where every week was a boxing match.

“It’s not like that at Rangers or Celtic. You go in thinking we should win every week but it’s not as simple as that.

“You need to earn the right and if you don’t, you get trod on.

“You get beat and you get the flak - that’s when the pressure kicks in. You need to be able to cope with the criticism and getting slaughtered.

“Even when I got there in ‘98, people would say it’s only a two-horse race. That may be so, but you don’t want to be second in a two-horse race.

“You can’t afford to be the loser out of the two - you need to be the winner or all hell breaks loose.

“They will learn that pretty quickly.”

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