BRENDAN RODGERS welcomed back Patrick Roberts after the winger shone in Celtic’s 4-1 win over Hamilton on Friday night.
The 20-year-old returned to Manchester City at the end of last season after an 18-month loan deal expired but recently returned to Parkhead on another temporary deal and looked as if he had never been away in his first game back as the champions outclassed Accies at the Superseal stadium.
Midfielder Stuart Armstrong opened the scoring in the 17th minute before attacker Scott Sinclair fired two in before the interval.
Debutant Odsonne Edouard – the 19-year-old striker on loan from Paris St. Germain – added a fourth following a one-two with Roberts before Accies substitute Alex Gogic, on for Dougie Imrie, headed in a late consolation.
Rodgers, looking ahead to Celtic’s Champions League opener against Paris St. Germain at Parkhead on Tuesday night, was pleased to see Roberts hit the ground running at the start of his season-long loan.
“Pat is very exciting and I can seem more development in him,” he said.
“He went back to Man City and played and trained and worked for the last few months with world-class players and I also see the happiness of him back.
“That is the beauty of Pat coming back, he knows how we work and the systems we play.
Pat was needing some game time so we just had to manage that.
“He hadn’t played 90 minutes so he had upwards of 70 minutes and that gives him good preparation for the game on Tuesday.”
Hamilton boss Martin Canning was disappointed by the defeat but had no complaints.
“I thought Celtic were excellent in the first half, as good as I have seen them, their movement, one touch, two touch, was difficult to
deal with,” he said.
“We changed it in the second-half and it maybe wasn’t pretty but sometimes you have to look at Celtic and see the qualities they have got and try to stop that
as opposed to having a wee go as we did at the start.
“I was really pleased with the second half but in the first half Celtic were excellent.
“It is not just the movement, it is the guy on the ball who sees the movement, it is another level again.”
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