BRENDAN RODGERS didn’t learn anything on Saturday about the players who will start against Hapoel Be’er-Sheva in Wednesday night’s crunch Champions League play-off tie at Parkhead. But the Celtic manager will have soaked up plenty about those who won’t.

Rodgers chose to take a fringe squad to Limerick at the weekend to take on Inter Milan in the final match in the International Champions Cup, giving key men like Leigh Griffiths, Scott Sinclair and Scott Brown the night off.

In their place came the likes of Leo Fasan, Dedryck Boyata, Liam Henderson and Nadir Ciftci. Few of these guys will become first-team regulars this season and there is still a decent chance that this match also served as a shop-window exercise for those on the outskirts who could yet be moved on in the window.

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Rodgers has admitted his squad is too big, and it grew further at the weekend with the arrival of goalkeeper Dorus de Vries. If the manager has his way one more newcomer could also yet pitch up at Parkhead in the coming fortnight. It means many of those who featured in the 2-0 defeat to Inter won’t be seen too often in the coming weeks and months.

What Rodgers would have learned, however, is that the philosophy and teachings he has been trying to drill into his players all summer have also been taken on board by those who know they will spend a lot of the campaign on the sidelines.

Read more: Ciftci: I want to stay at Celtic to learn more from Brendan Rodgers

That was evident at Thomond Park on Saturday where, against a strong Inter side managed by former Rangers defender Frank de Boer, there was no obvious dipping in standards from the stand-ins. They passed the ball bravely, were disciplined in a tactical sense, seemed to adapt well to any adjustments Rodgers made during the game, and stood up well to players of the calibre of Eder, Ivan Perisic and Ever Banega. The manager could not help but be impressed.

“That was a good exercise and I thought the players acquitted themselves very well,” he said. “I thought a number of them did very well. It’s been hard for many of them because when you are flipping between competition and preparation it’s hard for players to get 90 minutes.Glasgow Times:

“I had to be fair to these boys and play them and the ones left behind were trained by me on Saturday morning. I thought the younger ones did very well against top quality opposition.

“Ryan Christie was excellent, Liam Henderson was very good. I’ve been talking to Liam about improving tactically. Technically he’s very good and demands the ball which I love in a player. Tactically we’ve tried to improve his positioning and against Inter you could see he can play the game really well. The two full-backs performed against Motherwell and to come in and play against Inter was also very good. All round it was good.”

As things stand, Rodgers has enough strength in his squad to field two decent teams. If his second string is not as competitive as the first team it would still probably be good to beat most other teams in Scotland.

Ciftci, who revealed it had been “an honour” to captain the side, felt the same, too. He said: “It was a young squad but it was a good run-out for the guys. We worked really hard and tried our best to do what the gaffer wanted us to do.

“I think it shows Celtic have a lot of strength in depth. We have two teams basically and the guys who played did really well against a big club. To have the confidence to play the way we did against a big team like Inter is very encouraging.

“The result was disappointing but these games are about showing what you can do. I think we did that. It was a huge honour to wear the captain’s armband at a club like this. But, I think at Celtic you always need 11 captains on the pitch.”

Some who played on Saturday are maybe closer to the exit door than others. Stefan Johansen remains on the watchlist of both Fulham and Galatasaray but declined the chance to talk about his future after the match. Boyata, a regular last term, has recovered from injury only to find himself now at the back end of a long list of central defenders. Fasan played well on Saturday and may not want to hang around if he is to be fourth choice goalkeeper behind Craig Gordon, Logan Bailly and new man de Vries. Hibs are still keen on Henderson and he may benefit from going back out on loan, even if his long-term future really ought to be at Celtic.

Of those who played against Inter, Stuart Armstrong and Christie would seem to have the best chance of featuring in the Champions League tie on Wednesday. Armstrong missed a decent chance to score after being played in by a delightful Ciftci flick, while Christie flitted about full of endeavour and trickery. The back-ups in general did their case no harm at all. The manager would have thought so, too.