Brendan Rodgers hails Celtic togetherness and lauds 'dynamic' standout performer in St Johnstone win

Brendan Rodgers hailed the togetherness of his Celtic squad and the club's fanbase after they surged back to the Scottish Premiership summit with a 3-1 win over St Johnstone.

The defending champions cruised to victory over the Perth outfit at Parkhead courtesy of goals from Kyogo Furuhashi, Nicolas Kuhn and James Forrest before Connor Smith netted a late consolation for the visitors.

"I'm very pleased, it was a very good performance," Rodgers told BBC Radio Scotland. "The whole stadium, it felt really good today and really connected. From the first whistle, the supporters got behind the team and got their rewards.

"We scored three goals and could have had more. It's clicked at other times. Sometimes there's been negativity around how we've played. The players worked very hard. They dealt with the tactical aspect of the game really well.

"There was good penetration. Nicolas Kuhn makes a great cross for the first goal and for the second one he has to make up a lot of ground after our pressing and it's a great ball by the guys to cross for him to finish."

Rodgers reserved special praise for German winger Kuhn, who has struggled to impress in his first handful of outings for Celtic following his January arrival. The former Rapid Vienna ace made an impressive impact to back up a promising display against Livingston last week and was involved in most of their positive attacking play before being substituted.

Rodgers commented: "For him, it's been a challenge. When he first came in he was seven to eight kilograms down on his actual weight because he had his wisdom teeth taken out and he couldn't eat for a couple of weeks.

"That strength was taken away. When you're as slight as he is, it's taken time for him to build that muscle again. Once he's done that he's found his running power and running legs. He's super quick and dynamic. I just think it's been a little bit of time for him and you have to be patient. I know players get judged here on half an appearance but he's starting to show why he was brought in."