Brendan Rodgers impressed by Nicolas Kuhn and Kyogo Furuhashi in Celtic win

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers saw further evidence his attackers are getting to grips with his demands as they continued their flying start to the season at Easter Road.

Rodgers felt his team could have been more clinical in their 2-0 win over Hibernian but the performance of Nicolas Kuhn was a major positive as the winger produced a goal and an assist to follow his opening-day strike against Kilmarnock.

Kyogo Furuhashi could not take one of three good chances but was heavily involved in Kuhn’s early goal with his saved shot turned into the path of the German by James Forrest after latching on to a ball in behind.

Forrest knows all there is to know about Rodgers’ style and has continued where he left off in the final months of last season, but there is a definite improvement in Furuhashi’s tactical game as well as Kuhn’s fitness and effectiveness.

The Japanese forward looked slightly out of sorts after Rodgers replaced Ange Postecoglou, for whom he hit 34 goals in his second season in Scotland. After playing off or beyond the last man, Furuhashi appeared to have lost an edge when dropping deep to meet a different approach.

Now, Rodgers feels he has got the balance right between his instincts and instructions.

“I’ve said it before, I don’t need him to be scoring 40 goals,” Rodgers said.

“But he is involved, absolutely. It took him a little bit of time probably to understand for me that it’s not always about being on the last line. For me, I want him to play the space rather than the position.

“We all know he can go into depth, like we see in the first goal. But the modern game, especially when you have man-to-man marking, creates that possibility on the inside. And we see that.

“If your midfielders are creating the space, then the obvious pass is through the middle. But you need the striker to be available, not always running away from the ball.

“I think he’s playing the space really well. He’s running in behind, he’s coming short, he’s linking it. He should have scored but he’s playing really, really well.”

Kuhn is benefiting from an extra sharpness over the first few yards after arriving in Scotland in January off the back of surgery.

But Rodgers also feels the former Rapid Vienna player has a greater understanding of his position in the team.

The Celtic boss said: “He came into the club in a challenging period in January. He had issues around his fitness and health and everything else. He just landed in the middle of that challenging period and it just took him a little bit of time.

“He’s had a really good pre-season. He’s always been quick. He’s one of the quickest players that you’ll see.

“But I think now the variety in his game, coming inside, outside, and the big thing that I spoke to him about when he came in was you need to score goals. You’re a winger, you need to create and score. That’s your job.

“He’s doing his job very well. He’s a good guy, he works hard and that position is something that we constantly tell him to get into. Get in the second post, be there, all the wingers, be ready for crosses.”