Brendan Rodgers bemoans Celtic supporters' 'total lack of respect' towards Greg Taylor

Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney has been strongly linked with a move back to Celtic where he was a hero and while Rodgers refused to add to the speculation, he was far from pleased at those Hoops fans who showed their support for the Gunners defender in song while Taylor, who is out of contract at the end of the season, was still on the pitch.

He said: "A total lack of respect. Of course it is.

"Greg Taylor, he's been absolutely amazing at this club. How does he feel?

"He nearly breaks his nose (today), bleeding for the club, for the cause.

"I'm more worried about the players that are here.

"It's not very respectful to sing for another player, no matter what Kieran's history is. I don't like that.

"I have a young player who's given so much to this club over a number of years, consistently.

"His robustness, ability, what he's done for the club. So, that needs to be respected. He might decide to go elsewhere.

"But at this moment in time, he's here, he's very much a Celtic player and we want to support that.

"Hopefully we can get to some agreement to let him stay.

"I hear the stuff around, oh, maybe Champions League.

"But I've had hundreds of Celtic players that haven't been good enough in the Champions League.

"What I know is this is a man who gives everything for this club. Hopefully we can keep him here because we're trying to build a strong squad.

"I put myself in his shoes playing left-back in the game and we are singing the name of someone else."

Rodgers, whose side lost their first domestic game since March in the 3-0 defeat at Ibrox on Thursday, was also peeved about groans when, with the game goalless, Celtic went backwards with the ball.

He said: "I have a big respect for this group of players, especially on a day like today, because when it was 0-0 for the first 20 minutes, we'd make a backward pass and the crowd would be on to the team.

"That cannot happen. One, if you know about football, and two, if you can understand that when teams come here, they're going to make it really difficult.

"You can't turn up every single week and be 3-0, 4-0 up in 20 minutes.

"Teams are well-organised, teams are well set-up, you have to work the game.

"So sometimes you have to play a backward pass to change the point of attack. We make a backward pass, and then they get on to the players, and that's why I was proud of the players.

"I don't need the cheers when it's 3-0, and the support when it's 3-0 or 4-0, or 5-0.

"You only need to look at the facts and how this team plays to know they're an attacking team, a creative team that creates goals and scores goals.

"So when we decide to go back to change the point of attack, clap the players, don't panic.

"And that was my annoyance today. We need the support when it's 0-0.

"We want to attack. Look at our numbers, look at our stats. Trust the team. Trust the management."

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson had no real complaints about the defeat - their third in a row.

He said: "The boys to an extent did what we asked them to do.

"Our shape was very good and we pressed well. When we landed on the ball we tried to get in behind them and we did on a few occasions.

"We got punished at their first real opportunity. It was a great finish. That's the difference in levels.

"The second is the really disappointing one. We were right in the game at the end of the first half and lost one when it's very controllable.

"Then it's an individual error and a mix-up in the box for the third."