CELTIC may have made another piece of history, of sorts anyway, under their manager Brendan Rodgers with their dramatic late win over Rosenborg at Parkhead on Thursday evening.

Yet, recording a victory in their opening European group game for the first time in no fewer than 15 attempts failed to disguise an undeniable truth; the double treble winners aren’t currently performing at the same high level as they have done in the past two seasons.

The Scottish champions certainly merited their 1-0 victory against their negative Norwegian opposition. They created enough chances to win comfortably over the course of 90 one-sided minutes. If Odsonne Edouard, Tom Rogic and Scott Sinclair had been sharper in front of goal the triumph would have been secured long before substitute Leigh Griffiths popped up with the winner at the death.

Rodgers, though, has set high standards during his time in this country and he admitted that they aren’t currently being met. Rediscovering the form that has enabled the Glasgow club to become the dominant force in this country and overachieve on the continent since 2016 remains the objective. Winning is all well and good. But winning well is what matters.

The Northern Irishman feels his side’s play up front is letting them down at the moment and believes improving in that area is the key to turning around the 2018/19 campaign. It will be interesting, then, to see if he perseveres with Edouard against Kilmarnock in a Ladbrokes Premiership game at Rugby Park tomorrow or prefers Griffiths in attack. He would certainly like to see more of the sort of play that led to the winner in their Europa League match.

“I don’t think we are anywhere near the level of our game,” he said. “The win on Thursday night was probably down to spirit and persistence. I said last week at St Mirren (Celtic drew 0-0 with their Paisley rivals in the league eight days ago) that, even with 10 men, we were dominant. But it’s just that final third.

“It’s a mixture of confidence and not being dynamic enough at times. So that is allowing us not to be decisive enough in games. Whilst we are not conceding - that’s five games when we have not con-ceded - you just have to keep going.

“You have to be persistent and you have to trust right to the very end that we will get the goal. The goal was a demonstration of that. Good ball by (Scott) Browny, great leap by Dedryck (Boyata) and Griff does what he does. reads the ball and goes in and finishes. Then we close it out.

“That’s probably the bit that’s missing. When you get into the final third of the pitch, you see balls where they just need a bit of subtlety and a bit of softness for a pullback. We’re rifling across, and you have no chance to finish. It’s just time.”

Rodgers, though, admits that he is unsure exactly why Celtic have struggled to play with the same composure in attack and high tempo that they did last term and the season before. He has no doubts, though, that his charges will continue to give their all and is hopeful that a winning run will lead to their flair returning.

“I’m not sure why it is,” he said. “It’s a bit of everything really. We lost dynamic players. We have had lots of games. We just have to continue to work hard on the training field and win games like on Thursday night when you are not at your best. Being able to win and not give away much is important because that helps your confidence and you grow and grow from there.

“The squad are very honest, a brilliant bunch of boys to work with. We haven’t been as dynamic as we have been in the last couple of years. It might be a season for us like that, but we will always find a way and try to find a solution to perform well because performing, for me, is very, very important.

“The boys put a great effort into the Rosenborg game. I asked them to have this resilience but to have great spirit and persistence to keep going, and they did that. And they got the win. It was a very good three points for us against a team who came with a huge level of confidence. They won nine of their previous 11 games, and drew two. They were always going to be difficult for us, but we coped well.”

Rodgers turned to Mikey Johnston, the teenage winger who started both of the Europa League play-off games against Suduva, once again on Thursday night as Celtic struggled to break down their opponents and edge in front. The youngster wasn’t involved in the goal, but his manager is optimistic his influence will grow with games. He is likely to be involved at some point in proceedings in Ayrshire tomorrow.

“Mikey was dynamic,” he said. “He is progressing really well. His best side is the left side. There is no doubt about that. But he has shown that he can play on the right side. As soon as he gets the ball, he is very direct and gets at people. Kilmarnock will be a tough game for us. But we go again.”