Brendan Rodgers says Celtic in ‘much better place’ as he eyes more cup success

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers feels his side are far better equipped to meet the demands of domestic domination as they prepare to open their League Cup campaign.

Rodgers lost his 100 per cent record in Scottish domestic cup competitions at the first hurdle in his second spell in Glasgow when Celtic went down to defeat against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park 12 months ago.

Celtic eventually found their rhythm and took Rodgers’ trophy haul to nine out of 10 and have continued where they left off this season with six goals in two league matches against Killie and Hibernian, and the tally could easily have been greater given their first-half dominance at Easter Road last weekend.

Now Rodgers aims to get back on track in the League Cup when Hibs visit the east end of Glasgow on Sunday.

“We were disappointed last season,” he said. “I think I mentioned it before that, probably from my first spell, I had this ball and chain wrapped around me in terms of winning trophies and everything else.

“And that probably allowed us to break free from that in an indirect way, even though we’d have loved to have won it.

“But certainly from that point and moving forward, we’ve progressed and developed. And the team’s in a much better place now.

“My compass always is looking at training and seeing how training is. And I look this season at how we’ve been training, how we’ve been working, and we’ve been able to take that on to the games.

“This is the next game, which is the most important one. And for us, we want to get through.

“There’s no doubt, I’ve always said it, and we should set that mentality and target of wanting to win every trophy. And that’s something that we know we have to work very, very hard to do. That starts on Sunday.”

With the final due to take place 10 days before Christmas, the competition has the potential to set the tone for the rest of the season.

“I really enjoyed that last time,” Rodgers said. “The first time I was up here, I felt it brings a nice edge early on in the season, rather than having to wait until later on in the season before you can win a trophy.

“It’s an opportunity for you to get your hands on a trophy, which has, again, been a great part of the history of this club. So, we want to challenge in every competition that we’re in. And obviously, this is our first one here. So, I’m excited by the start now.”