Brendan Rodgers keeps Celtic car comments going as two new models enter fray - but bad news on injuries for Hearts

Rodgers was delighted with the way his team recovered from going a goal down to Sturm Graz in the Europa League and said that they had responded the right way to his “Honda Civic” comment when describing Sunday’s 2-0 Premiership defeat by Dundee.

Second-half goals from Liam Scales and Benjamin Nygren cancelled out a 15th-minute opener from Toni Horvat to leave Celtic on four points and in 21st place in the Europa League standards.

Celtic played with much more power and incision and Rodgers was quick to praise his players in the manner they reacted to some harsh words last Sunday.

“I thought the performance was outstanding,” said Rodgers. As disappointed as we were at the weekend with the performance, I thought that was a really, really good level.

“We went behind to an absolutely brilliant goal. But just throughout the game, we were really creative and had lots of opportunities to score more goals. Everything that you want in a team, the tempo, the speed, the aggression, the energy, everything was there against a good side.

‘Harsh to be clear’

“Sometimes, like at the weekend, you have to be harsh to be clear. And then you hope that you get that reaction, that these players know that I'm with them always.

"I spend my life dedicated to making this team better, making the individuals better, helping the club progress. And at the weekend, it wasn't not good enough.

"So tonight, we weren't quite the Ferrari - a Range Rover Sport, I would have thought. Hopefully, we have no more Morris Minors in the performance - not that they're a bad car. It's a fantastic car!

"We showed the level with determination tonight. And that's what I expect to see going forward.”

The only downsides for Rodgers were injuries picked up for three first-team players. Striker Kelechi Iheanacho slumped to the turf with a hamstring issue just three minutes in and he was joined up the tunnel by defender Alistair Johnston, who aggravated his own hamstring issue. And centre-half Cameron Carter-Vickers limped off at the end with an ankle issue.

All three are now major doubts for Sunday’s crunch Premiership match against Hearts at Tynecastle, who lead Celtic by five points.

“We'll see what that is, but it looks like hamstrings, which isn't great,” said Rodgers on Iheanacho and Johnston. “In the second half, we wanted to take off Cameron (Carter-Vickers) but we could only make one substitution in the second half. Ideally, we would have taken him off, so we'll see what he's like when he comes in the morning.”

Japanese striker Daizen Maeda missed out against Sturm Graz due to his hamstring issue and when asked if he had any chance of facing Hearts, Rodgers replied: “I don't know. I'll find out tomorrow.”