Everything Brendan Rodgers said to Sky Sports after Celtic's 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park...

Brendan, can we get your assessment of the performance and result today?

I thought the performance in the first half was very good. We started the game really well in the first 25 minutes in particular. We scored a really good goal and created more chances and I thought we were good value for our lead. In the second half, we never got started, as we played the game that they wanted to play. We got rid of the ball instead of wanting to pass it and from that we failed to look after the ball and when you do that you give them opportunities to break through, and we suffered for that. A really disappointing second half.

First half, you could have gone in a lot more than one up.

We should have done. We were in a good place and had good intensity in our game getting the ball into really good areas and missed what looked like good chances but we had control of the game. In the second half, we didn’t.

Why do you think that was? Was it because they made you play their game?

Give credit to them, they pressed the game probably that bit more in the second half, but we have to be resistant to that. Instead of playing sideward and backwards you have to beat pressure and want to play forward. We didn’t do that enough and we didn’t make enough passes so that meant we got stuck in the game where we couldn’t progress through. We had one good chance through Matt O’Riley where he broke through, but we didn’t create anywhere near enough in the second half and weren’t decisive in the passing, which ended up costing us.

Did you struggle to deal with the wide areas as well at times?

Yes. We defended those areas not so well. We know Kilmarnock’s game and they want to get it wide and get crosses in. Too often, we didn’t do that.

Is that a frustration or does that become a worry when that happens, when you don’t do enough in the second half?

We had that last week where it wasn’t so good in the first half and the second half was better. We expected the second half to be what it was, especially the first 10-15 minutes when they came after us, but we have to deal with that better. We have to have a better take on the ball and look to connect the game because that’s the game that we want to play and if we don’t do that then we’re not as effective. It's a disappointment, the first defeat that we've had in the league, so it will hurt, but ultimately we didn’t deserve anything because of the second-half performance.

From what you were saying there, is that partly because of mentality, coming out in the second half? Do you need to be mentally stronger?

I don’t want to say that. These players have shown up until this point of the season domestically that they’ve got that bit between the teeth. Today, we just didn’t play our game in the second half. Mental strength is something that’s very important as a professional player and these guys have that. We just didn’t take the ball and show that courage that we needed to make passes and take them back. Instead, it became a little bit like a basketball game. I thought we had weathered the storm well in the second half, they had lots of corners but we defended them well. We then had to play our football and we didn’t do that.

Going into a busy period now, how do you get that message across then that it needs to be better?

It's quite straightforward, we've got a game in midweek which is our final Champions League game and then we go on to our next home game. The honesty of the group always gives me great hope for these guys because they are an honest and reflective group. We know the second half wasn’t what we would want, so we have to move on from that.

Medium-term, does that make you think about what you will do in January in terms of strengthening the squad?

Hopefully, we get some more players back, but we’re going with the players that we have now, so we have to be better. We showed in the first half some good moments of play with good threat and speed in the game. In the second half, we didn’t do that and weren’t resistant enough to any pressure in the game so that’s what we need to focus on first and foremost.