Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers delves deeper into Honda Civic comments as update given on two injuries

After the match at Dens Park which left the Parkhead side five points behind Premiership leaders Hearts, whom they play away on Sunday, Rodgers said: “There’s no way you’ll go into a race and be given the keys to a Honda Civic and say, ‘I want you to drive it like a Ferrari’.”

Speaking ahead of Thursday night’s Europa League clash at home to Sturm Graz, Rodgers explained that his squad has been diminished in terms of pure speed with the departure of Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes in January and Nicolas Kuhn to Como in the summer, while Jota has not been available all season due to a serious knee injury.

“Yeah, listen, it’s something that I said at the time and I said it because I felt it so I’ve got no regret, no,” said Rodgers. “I don’t know because I haven’t seen or read or heard anything, but it was based around the speed in our team. Clearly, it’s not the same as what we had last season. I’m pretty sure both of those cars got a different speed, so that was the reference to that.

“It’s a different profile of player. If you think of what we had, the football is going to look different. Kyogo and Daizen [Maeda] – when he’s playing – and Nicolas Kuhn, it’s a different level of speed. So we don’t have that. The game will look different but we can still be better and faster and more dynamic in our actions. That’s the challenge.”

Rodgers confirmed Japan striker Daizen Maeda, who missed the Dundee defeat with a hamstring problem, remains out while hinting that right-back Alistair Johnston could return on Thursday after recovering from a long-term hamstring injury.

Rodgers says he is with his players

He added: “I’m not really worried, to be honest. You can’t please everyone and nobody’s trying to do that now. The players know that I’m with them, I’ve always been with them. Our focus is now on performing and performing to our best level.”

Disgruntled Celtic fans, in an on-going protest against the club’s board, threw dozens of balls on to the field at Dens Park straight after kick-off to delay the game. However, amid the “disharmony” at the club, Rodgers insisted he had “never been so motivated in my time at Celtic”.

He added: “I would say I’m a transformational coach – it’s a transformational style. So I think I can come into a club and teach and inspire and motivate players. At this point in time I can’t be any more motivated to turn it around. It’s OK when you’re winning trophies and playing great football and everything else.

“We all have seen the challenges from the summer through till now and the continuation of that. I’m so determined to try and turn the feeling around, the feeling on and off the pitch. Because for me, it’s not what Celtic is about and not what Celtic should be about.

“This is an amazing club. Yeah, you will get frustrated at times. I can never – with the greatest respect to Dundee – expect a Celtic team to go on and lose. We were talking six months ago about the challenge in the latter stages of Champions League and now we’re losing these types of games. So I’m super motivated to do the very best that I can for this club.”