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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Celtic will take 24 hours to 'grieve' cup exit, says Brendan Rodgers

Celtic will take 24 hours to "grieve" their Viaplay Cup exit. 

Brendan Rodgers says he and his squad will reflect and analyse the 1-0 loss to Kilmarnock in around a day before moving on to the next challenge.

Marley Watkins scored the only goal in Ayrshire as Killie ran out worthy winners in the last-16 tie at Rugby Park.

A home draw in the quarter-finals of the competition awaits Derek McInnes' side, while Celtic's defence of their treble is already over.

"It’s a disappointment, there’s no doubt," Rodgers admitted. "I don’t think we did enough to win the game. We upped the level when we went behind but we didn’t show enough quality when we had the ball.

"The goal, we switch off from the throw-in, we don’t win our duels and they go through and score. It was a disappointing result for us. But give credit to Kilmarnock. They worked very hard, put the tackles in, put the blocks in, and like I say, they win the game.

"I always think when you lose any game you’ve got to give it 24 hours to grieve. We’ll go away, we’ll assess it. The key thing is about learning.

"This is a team that’s got a lot of new players in and people will look at it and say it’s the same squad, it’s not. It’s a different squad of players. But still, we should have more quality than what we showed today. We need to go away, review it, analyse it and look to our next game."

Gustaf Lagerbielke made his debut at the heart of the Hoops defence just two days after officially joining. Odin Thiago Holm also made his first start for the club after his summer arrival. 

Rodgers feels today's experience will stand the pair in good stead going forward. 

He added: "It’s a good eye-opener for them at this level. I thought Gustaf did well. He’s strong, he’s committed and he passes the ball well. He’s only in and I thought he was strong for us today.

"Odin is a boy that’s got talent. He’s a young player and this experience will be good for him."

The transfer window closes on Friday, September 1. Rodgers insists the Scottish champions will look to be busy in the run-up to the deadline in just under a fortnight's time.

Asked if he needs to add to his squad, he responded: "Yeah. I think it’s always been about quality, I’ve said that before. The team needs matchwinners, it needs quality. That’s something hopefully we can do."

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