Rodgers saw his unblemished cup record broken by Kilmarnock and admits he may need to buy ready made players before the window closes.

Brendan Rodgers admits Celtic need a fresh injection of quality and experience after seeing his proud unbeaten cup record crash at Kilmarnock.

The Northern Irishman led the Hoops to victory in all 24 domestic knock-out ties he oversaw during his first spell in charge. But it took just 90 minutes at Rugby Park for that impressive record to collapse as Rodgers admitted his second stint is going to be a tougher challenge to overcome.

The Viaplay Cup holders last failed to make the quarter-finals back in 2013 when Neil Lennon’s side were dumped out by Morton. Rodgers’ young side suffered the same fate as Marley Watkins’ goal sent the Killie faithful into raptures just two weeks on from their stunning Premiership start against Rangers. The Celtic boss started summer signings Gustaf Lagerbielke, Mark Nawrocki and Odin Holm before also throwing on new recruit Hyunjun Yang as his side chased an equaliser.

 

All four are under 23 and Rodgers admits he may have to seek out some older heads if his team are to avoid another slip-up. He said: “We want good players, whatever age they are.

“We need quality, that’s for sure. Hopefully between now and the end of the window we can improve the squad.

“Clearly the model of the club is to bring the players in at a younger age and develop them and improve them. But we are not against bringing in someone at 26 or 27 if they can improve the squad.”

Celtic started brightly but as Killie upped their intensity levels on and off the ball, the visitors soon ran out of ideas. Aside from a couple of Kyogo Furuhashi efforts inside the first half an hour, there wasn’t much for Killie keeper Will Dennis to do as Celtic lost their grip on a trophy they’ve lifted six times in the last seven years.

 

“I’m disappointed to go out of the cup,” admitted Rodgers. “Kilmarnock showed their resilience and took their chance when it came.

“We are very disappointed and it was certainly nowhere near the level that we need to be at to win the game. We were a bit more progressive when Kilmarnock got the goal and we started to be a threat.

“I thought Yang coming into the game looked very well and he gave us that ability to take people on in a one versus one but other than that we lacked quality in the game and it was just so disappointing. We were just not at the level yet in terms of performance.

“It is a tough place to come, of cour

He said: “I think [because] I came in here before and won trebles, people think that’s just what you come in and do. It is a very difficult thing and you see this defeat that magnifies the achievement from before.

“It is a new cycle and I want to win every game as the Celtic manager and this is bitterly disappointing. Of course, it is always a setback when you go out of a cup competition but we have 24 hours to get over it and there is a long season ahead and many things to play for so that is what we will work on.

 

“I said at the beginning when I came in here that this was not a continuation. Good teams aren’t born. There are new players in, players have left. So we have to work very hard and if we think that it is just going to happen then that will not be the case at Celtic.”

se, but we need to show more and we need to have a greater physicality in the game and then when you have won that battle you need to play with more quality and we didn’t play with that.”

Rodgers won seven trophies out of seven before quitting as Parkhead boss to take over at Leicester in February 2019. But he insists he always knew it was never going to be as easy second time round.