Brendan Rodgers: Celtic boss has no regrets over ‘Honda Civic’ comments aimed at embattled squad

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has "no regrets" over comments he made following Sunday's Scottish Premiership defeat by Dundee in which he compared his players to Honda Civics.

In reference to Celtic's underwhelming summer recruitment, 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'. It's not going to happen."

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The Hoops lost talismanic forward Kyogo in January, before selling Adam Idah and Nicolas Kuhn in the summer to Swansea City and Como respectively. With winger Jota still sidelined by a long-term injury, Celtic are without players who contributed 58 goals last campaign; they have failed to score in six of their opening 14 matches this term.

Rodgers has repeatedly bemoaned the club's summer transfer business and failure to adequately replace those who have been moved on for big fees.

"It (Sunday's comments) was based around the speed in our team. Clearly, it's not the same as what we had last season," said the Celtic boss.

"I'm pretty sure both of those cars go at a different speed, so that was the reference to that.

"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.

"It's something that I said at the time, and I said it because I felt it, so I've got no regrets, no."

Celtic welcome Austrian side Sturm Graz to Glasgow on Thursday and are still searching for their first win in Europe this season.

Domestically, they are also five points behind league leaders Hearts, and that could stretch to eight points should they lose at Tynecastle Park on Sunday - live on Sky Sports.

But Rodgers' worries extend beyond the pitch.

Supporters are engaged in a series of protests against the board, and he is in the last year of his contract.

Despite already delivering 11 trophies across two spells as Celtic boss, the 52-year-old insists he is more motivated than ever to succeed.

"If I look at my own style as a coach, I would say I'm a transformational coach, it's a transformational style," he added.

"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 okay when you're winning trophies and playing great football and everything else. The challenge is, we all have seen the challenges from the summer through until now and the continuation of that, to turn things around.

"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. You're very human and you will get disappointed, like at the weekend. But I can never, with the greatest respect to Dundee, expect a Celtic team to go on and lose.

"That's what I've always felt. 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."

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