Brendan Rodgers blasts back at Celtic critics who treated him like a NOVICE as he takes swipe at Chris Sutton

Bristling Brendan Rodgers blasted back at his critics and took aim at Celtic hero Chris Sutton over his claim that the Hoops boss was “going through the motions”.

The Irishman moved to within a point of three-in-a-row after a 2-1 win over 10-man Rangers at Parkhead with a Scottish Cup final also to come against their bitter rivals for the chance of a double on his return north of the border.

Rodgers had to overcome some struggles during the festive period when his side had a wobble in December and it was around that period Record Sport columnist Sutton said: “At the moment this Celtic team are disjointed and going through the motions. And there’s a fair argument to suggest Brendan Rodgers has been going through the motions this season.” And following his derby victory, Rodgers said: “I heard someone saying earlier in the season Brendan Rodgers was going through the motions.

"I get to work between half seven and eight o’clock every day of my life. I leave the training ground between half six and seven o’clock at night and then when I get home I have my dinner and flip on the computer and look at more football.

“If that is going through the motions then I want to know what ever other manager is doing because what is every other manager doing if I’M going through the motions. On a personal level I’ve been treated like a novice since I’ve come back here, like it’s my first job. However, my principle objective is to make sure Celtic win. Part of that is a part of the criticism and I understand that.

“But it's the mentality of the team which is most important to me and that mentality you can see, from were we were with injuries, how we’ve progressed, how we stayed unified and to get to this point where we’re nearly crossing the finishing line and we don’t want to just cross it, we want to sprint across it with two games to go plus a cup final and that is our mentality.”