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Liam Scales is adamant that the Celtic squad were unmoved by Brendan Rodgers controversially comparing the current squad to a Honda Civic.
The manager’s remarks came on the back of a dismal summer transfer window which has led to the club exiting the Champions League and falling five points behind Hearts in the title race.
But the Irish defender insists Rodgers’ much-debated choice of words hasn’t even registered with the players as they seek to turn their patchy form around after Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Dundee at Dens Park.
‘I don’t know about others in the dressing room but, for me, it’s not going to affect me, and it wasn’t a talking point among the players,’ claimed Scales ahead of Thursday evening’s Europa League visit of Sturm Graz.
‘We know it was a disappointing result, and if that’s a way to motivate people to do better, then that’s the only way I could really look at it.
‘I didn’t notice anything different in how we’ve been leading up to this game.
Celtic defender Liam Scales says the players were not affected by Rodgers' comments
Rodgers was clearly not impressed with his team's performance against Dundee at Dens Park
‘Obviously there was disappointment about losing the game but there wasn’t any bad blood at all.’
The 27-year-old Republic of Ireland international doesn’t feel that any of his team-mates need any reassurance about Rodgers’ estimation of them.
‘He knows we’re all good players,’ he added. ‘We all know that there’s really good quality in the dressing room. We get that message day to day.
‘We all know there’s good quality there. The coaches know, the manager knows. He shows that day in, day out on the training ground.
‘He gives us confidence. There’s no real issues there.’
Celtic have failed to score in six matches this season, with the lack of creativity a legacy of the lack of quality summer dealings.
Scales, though, is convinced that those players who have come in will show more in the fullness of time.
‘The players that we’ve signed, you’ve seen the quality they’ve brought in patches,’ he said.
Irish defender Scales in action for Celtic during the damaging 2-0 defeat to Dundee
Rodgers' side were well beaten by their Dundee counterparts in the Premiership clash
‘They’re really good players, it’s just going to take maybe a little bit of time for them to kick into top gear.
‘Like Nic (Kuhn) when he came, he struggled for the first six months. After that he was brilliant, teams couldn’t handle him.
‘So, sometimes it just takes a bit of time for new players to come in and get that confidence. But the quality is definitely there.
‘Maybe looking from the outside, players might think that coming to Celtic and playing is easy and you’re going to win every week. You’re going to win trophies. But it’s not like that.
‘You play against really good teams every week. Tough teams that are hard to break down. Teams that can hurt you in different ways.
‘I think that’s probably what’s happened in a sense. Maybe some players who aren’t used to the league and the level of the opposition, maybe they expect it to be different.
‘But they’ll learn. They probably have learned a lot over the last few weeks and it’s now time for everyone, not just the new lads, but for everyone to really up our game and take our game to the next level.’
