BRENDAN RODGERS saw his much-changed Celtic side drop two points in the goalless home draw against St Johnstone this afternoon.
However, the Hoops boss defended his decision to make bring in seven new players from the team that beat Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 on Thursday night.
Tom Rogic made his first appearance since December 5 following his recovery from a knee injury while Cristian Gamboa, Jack Hendry, Calvin Miller, Charly Musonda, Odsonne Edouard and Scott Sinclair also started the game.
Rodgers, preparing his troops for the second leg of their Europa League tie in Russia, said: “You have to be careful because we have so many games.
“Scott Brown was suspended, Mikael Lustig had a niggle on his Achilles and we couldn’t risk that and Olivier Ntcham was ill so he couldn’t play.
“Olivier should be fine, Browny will be available and Mikael should be fine, it was precautionary. They will be fine for Thursday.
“There were lots of positives for us today in terms of players. It was Tom Rogic’s first game in two months, we have to take opportunities at some point to play some of these guys, like Cristian Gamboa and Calvin Miller.
“Even if we had a full strength side it would have still been difficult.”
Rodgers also claimed Saints players should be asked questions after ending a dreadful run of form with their second draw of the season in the east end of Glasgow following the 1-1 deadlock in August.
The Perth outfit had won only one of their previous eight games since beating Sevco Rangers at Ibrox in December – a Scottish Cup victory over Albion Rovers.
The Hoops gaffer added: “Tommy Wright’s a fantastic manager. I am sure he walks away happy with a point, but probably really frustrated.
“How can you win a game 3-1 at Ibrox, not win a game right the way through, apart from the Albion game then your next big result is away at Celtic?
“So, I think the question goes with the St Johnstone players.
“Today you’ve seen them organised, committed, fighting, running – doing all of that.
“If they do that in every game they would probably win a lot more games.”
