Callum McGregor hails Celtic’s squad as fringe players take chance to shine

Callum McGregor believes Celtic’s strength in depth was evident in the 5-0 thrashing of Ross County.

Brendan Rodgers made six changes following the creditable 1-1 Champions League draw with Belgian side Club Brugge on Wednesday night and four of them – Liam Scales, Luke McCowan, Paulo Bernardo and Adam Idah – scored in the first half along with the Hoops skipper as the rampant William Hill Premiership leaders wrapped up the points by the interval.

Jack Hamilton replaced injured County goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw just before the break and he prevented a more damaging score-line with a series of good saves, but there was no doubting Celtic’s superiority.

McGregor told CelticTV there had been no loss of rhythm, despite changes being made on the back of a big European night.

The midfielder said: “No, not at all. And the guys that have been coming into the games have made a huge impact for us.

“And the squad is so important. We need every single player at the maximum level and that’s why we’ve been so good.

“We make a few changes and the level is super high again.

“Brilliant energy, brilliant quality, summed up by Luke McCowan.

“He gets his goal and a few assists as well. But that’s we want, everybody to come in and work as hard as they can for the team and produce those moments. And like I said, we’re all in it together.”

McGregor described the performance as “outstanding”.

“The idea was to try and get the speed and the tempo and the quality in the ball from the very start,” he continued.

“I thought the boys did that. And then once you get the first one, you’re hungry for more. You’re trying to kill the game as quickly as you can and obviously the goals all come in the first half and it kills the game.

“The boys continued to push in the second half, just unlucky in a couple of moments where we maybe could have got another one and maybe sparked another couple of goals. But overall, a really good day’s work.”

McCowan, who signed from Dundee in August, had sat out the previous two games but returned with a man-of-the-match performance, adding three assists to his goal.

The midfielder said: “You can’t have a petted lip when you’re not playing in this team and you’ve got to be ready to come on.

“As Callum said, the squad’s massive, but it’s full of quality. And there’s that many games in the season that you’ve just got to be ready when called upon.”