BEAMING Brendan Rodgers hailed his players after their 6-0 Scottish Cup success over Inverness Caley Thistle at Parkhead this afternoon.
Moussa Dembele took his season’s total to 26 after scoring his second successive hat-trick in the space of seven days, with Mikael Lustig, Kieran Tierney and Scott Brown also on target.
Rodgers said: “The players were brilliant. Their work and attitude in the game was first-class.
“Firstly, defensively, how quickly they regained the ball which didn’t allow our opponents any time to make any sequences of passes.“In my study of Inverness, and from what I have seen of them, they have some good technical players who can move the ball, but we never gave them an opportunity to do that.
“Defensively, we were very strong and our pressing was excellent and our attacking play was fantastic.“In all elements of our game, how we built the game up from behind quickly through the midfield and then we got real penetration at the top of the field – very incisive – it was very good.”Hat-trick hero Dembele was not the only Hoops player to impress, with James Forrest and Scott Sinclair creating havoc down both flanks.
The Irishman added: “I thought the two wingers were outstanding.
“Scotty Sinclair will be devastated he hasn’t scored. You saw the example at the end of how robust he is.
“He goes into a challenge with the boy David Raven and Raven bounces off him and Scotty still had the power and strength to go again, square it and we end up getting a goal.“Both him and James were brilliant today and they will be disappointed not to have scored, but they made a really big contribution.“Moussa will get goals and I was pleased for him as there are other elements of his game we are working on in training and I see him improving in – how he receives it and his touch to move away into spaces.
“I don’t mind when they come so long as they go in. He is a big talent, but he still has a lot of development left in him.
“You can see he is enjoying his football. He is a real fantastic reference for the team.
“His hold-up play is very good and his movement is improving all the time and he works very hard on his finishing.”
