Everything Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers said to the media after his side's 2-0 win over Hearts in the Scottish Premiership at Celtic Park...

Three points today, the perfect start to the season continues, what did you make of your team's performance?

Yes, I was pleased. After an international break, you want your players to show up and they have done that. They have been travelling all around the world and things were a little bit broken but we had a lot of good moments in the game. In the first half, we want to score if we can and get the early goal and that can change the dynamic. We didn't quite do that, we had good chances in the mixture of us not finishing and big Craig Gordon making some good saves. We also misplaced a few passes that didn't allow us to get the goal. What pleased me and I mentioned this to the players as I told them 'Don't become desperate', you are never going to play every game and be three or four up or four or five up in the first half. The objective for us today was to win and get our fluency and get our movement and patterns back in again. Some guys came in and got to understand the system, so I think we did that. By the end, we were very good winners of the game.

What did you think of the new signing Arne Engels? He was named player of the match, scored the penalty and he nearly had another.

He had two great opportunities. One was in the box when he failed to warp his foot around it and it went over the bar and he had another off the post with a bit of quick thinking from a throw-in. He did that well. He's going to be a really good player. He's tall and athletic. He can run and his touch is good. He presses and counter-presses, I really like him and that's why we brought him here and at 21 years of age he is only going to improve. I am so pleased for him and he gets the penalty and he shows his courage to take it and score.

He seemed to just fit straight into the side. It didn't look like his first start today, did it?

No. There is still work we have to do with him in terms of his positioning and that is only natural. How we play and how he gets the itch to go but that is just rhythm and time. That's the process that these players come into. Overall, I am happy for him.

Does Arne take penalties as it looked as if Reo Hatate had the ball at first?

Reo was our number one penalty taker and Arne was number two. They trained on Friday with Jack Lyons and he looks after those guys on the penalties. Both of them were very good. In terms of the taking of it, I think Reo's selflessness got the better of him and he gave it to Arne. I am just happy he scored or you might have heard about it! You could see how comfortable he was taking it as he showed great composure and put it away well.

Were you happy for Luke McCowan?

It's great. Any player playing for their boyhood team and to come on and he is still adapting a lot to the speed and tempo of the game. He will never lay down whether he starts the game or comes into the game and I think for a young guy who is a Celtic supporter, it is his absolute dream to be here, you can sense it in him every single day. To then actually score at Celtic Park and get that feeling from the supporters is brilliant for him. The supporters recognise it as well. I am so happy for him.

In terms of the squad you have got, is this as good, strong and confident as you have felt going into a Champions League campaign?

Yes, I am excited about it. I think we have a good balance in the squad. We want to improve later on and we did really good work over the course of the summer. I think we are going into this in a positive place. The mindset is strong. We are ready to attack the competition as we know the level we are playing at. We will go and give it everything as we want to make a positive start on Wednesday, We are looking forward to it.#

You said when you came in here that was your big thing and you wanted to progress the club in Europe, can you do that?

I think we can never forget our bread and butter, it is so important. It is the lives of so many supporters, especially here in Glasgow for their team. We can never dismiss or discount that and we can never think it is easy. Believe me, people say playing for and managing Celtic is easy, it is not easy. Certainly not and that is because of the demands, the expectations and the mentality that you need to succeed. The culture that we have here is a winning culture. It was to make the next steps. The next steps are probably in Europe at the highest level and this is a real challenge for us. So many really good managers before me it's been a challenge also. We are hoping now that with a strong squad with improvements still to make in our play that we can go and really attack it and we are excited about that.

You talked about the strong squad, was it difficult to leave Bernardo out after he played against Rangers, I take it that it was because there are games coming up? 

In your mind, you’re thinking about the next game, but I have to prepare the team for the season. It’s no good having a strong squad and then not using the players. I like to make minimal changes, but I will still make changes. I felt that it was important for him (Engels) to come in and get that feeling playing in the team, trying to understand some of the patterns, because then we can look at and analyse the game with him for areas he can be better in. I want to build a team here that has power, speed and unpredictability. He certainly gives us that on a European level. He’s come in and played in the top 5 leagues in Europe and played very well in that. That’s a player that we need, and we’re very happy that he’s chosen to come here. I wanted to get him in - Paulo’s been brilliant, so I’m happy he’s here. There are other players waiting in the wings too to get game time. It’s such a long season, and they’ll get that.

How much does it encourage you that you’ve got that multitude of options in the middle of the park to choose from? 

I’m very happy with it. First, it’s all about the team - individuals will elevate the team, but we want to make individuals better, of course. That is part of the adaption as you see with Alex Valle. He’s come in and he needs to observe and see how we work in terms of the full-back position. Auston Trusty as well, he’s come in and seen the way the centre-back role is played. To have these options is very important. You see with the spirit of the team, it’s so strong and they’re so together and unified. We take it back to 12 months ago when Santa got a wee bit of stick - what a sad day that was! We made it up for him, but we’re in a really good place, I’m really pleased.

Steven Naismith thought neither side should have had a penalty today, is that fair?

It’s hard for Steven because he knows the first goal is so important in the game. If it goes to them, then Hearts have something to hang onto. If it goes to us, then the climate of the game changes. When you look at it, the rules are pretty clear, both were grappling and the ball came over onto his sleeve. In everyone’s book that’s not a penalty, but you want it. I can understand that. Likewise, the law tells you that if your arms are up away from the silhouette, then that is a penalty, and that’s how it worked out. There’s always a feeling if you don’t get it and the other team gets it then it’s a bit harsh, but I thought that the referee and officials did really well in those two moments.

Were you surprised with the decision after the first call? 

No. I trusted the referees to have a look at it. You can’t connect the two, the referee did well with the decisions. The people in VAR have looked at it. Just because one team doesn’t get one, doesn’t mean the other doesn’t too. By the letter of the law, one was a penalty and the other wasn’t.

Does it take strength from the referee to change his mind on both decisions? 

That’s why we have VAR. I think that he made his decision because it’s quick-fire. When the arm is out he sees it as a hand-ball. It’s the reason why we have VAR in place because the guys in the studio will look at it and think ‘not quite’. Similar to how our goal was disallowed - that was a really good call. It was just a fraction offside, but it was offside. I thought the officials worked really well.