Brendan Rodgers has insisted that his teams will always look to go for the jugular – no matter the quality and prestige of the opposition.

Speaking as the Celtic manager reflected on this season’s European campaign that ended with a credible 1-1 draw with Manchester City in the Champions League, Rodgers was heartened by the style of football his side played.

“My teams have always, in the main, been aggressive when they defend, press the game, never give the opposition a minute’s peace and when they have the ball they show the courage and bravery to play the game to a high level, technically and tactically,” said the Hoops manager.

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“Slowly we’re starting to see that, the sort of beginnings of that now on the bigger stages. It’s okay doing it in other games domestically but can you go and impose that in the biggest jungles in the world?

“My way is always an aggressive way. For me you need to be competitive and in a way that allows you to express yourself. That’s a mindset. You can sit off and suffer and sit in the box for 85 minutes, but I like to be the aggressor.

“If you stand off good players they will run rings round you all day. But how good can they be if you go right up against them.

“Every now and then they will earn their £200,000 a week and play around you a couple of times – that’s ok. Let’s see if they can do it again and earn their money.

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“If you wait then you will never become a team.”

And Rodgers has insisted that while he has been satisfied at the development he has seen from his Celtic side over the course of the six games in the competition, he is still looking for more.

“We’re still a long way off where I want to be,” said Rodgers. “We’re a long way off the penny dropping moment.

“But what I am seeing is that it’s starting to flow better. We build and consolidate the game. We’re incisive with our movement and passing in the game and finishing.

“It’s building well but that’s all it is. It’s still a way to go from where I want us to be.

“It’s been building over the period of time. Last week’s challenge at Motherwell was great – we faced that adversity and it was a case of how can we deal with it?

“How can I give my message to the players that makes them confident to deal with it.

“The biggest things is how they cope with pressure by showing calmness, composure, technique the tactical idea – all of that has been so impressive.

“That’s something we will strive to improve on.”

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What Rodgers has seen, however, is a team who are starting to get it right in the middle of the park. Stuart Armstrong and Tom Rogic have come to the fore of late and it is something that the Hoops boss has enjoyed watching.

“There were a lot of games in the early part of this campaign where I felt Scott Brown was playing on his own,” he said. “There is now three, clearly three in how they are working and how they are playing and collectively that is working all over the field.”

And Rodgers has also maintained that Gary Mackay-Steven still has a future at the club.

The winger made his inaugural appearance under Rodgers when he came on for the injured James Forrest against City and while there had been speculation about a Ross County move last summer, Rodgers has intimated that Mackay-Steven has a role at Celtic.

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“This is a boy who has all the tools in terms of how I like my teams to play,” he said. “He runs forward, he is aggressive, he understands how to press the ball and he’s got a goal in him. What he is finding is he is not coming in on his own.

“He is coming into a collective and is a part of the collective. That