When Brendan Rodgers was appointed the manager of Celtic for the second time, he uttered the words: "My commitment has always been to play high pressing, attacking, aggressive football."

Previously it was Ange-ball. That has now been replaced by something new. Let's call it Brodge-ball. It's got a decent ring to it, hasn't it? Perhaps it was apt then that the smallest man on the park proved that he was Big in Japan as Celtic ended their trip to the Far East with a 1-0 victory over Gamba Osaka at the Panasonic Stadium in Suita. Diminutive full-back Alexandro Bernabei hit the winning goal for Rodgers' side in the fixture.

The 50-year-old was absolutely delighted at the manner of the goal which should serve as a template for every Celtic team that he sends out to battle in all competitions. The concession of six against Yokohama F. Marinos in the previous match was not ideal but fair play to Rodgers and his team - well, two teams as he played two different XIs in either half - as they registered a clean sheet, barely 72 hours later.

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Bernabei's decisive strike on 84 minutes came when he initially made a hash of an attempted pass forward. The intended ball went hopelessly astray because of his reluctance to play it out with his weaker foot when sprinting out of defence. That didn't deter him though as he ran 80 yards in the searing 30-degree heat of Japan and charged down the Osaka goalkeeper and forced him into a mistake before tapping home into the gaping net. This led to Rodgers praising him highly.

As he stated after the match: "Well, it's great that you can make a pass like that and it is so bad that it ended up in a goal! You have to give massive credit to him. He's played a great ball in during the games out in Portugal with the outside of his foot and we end up getting a goal from it. He tried a similar thing on the other side of the pitch tonight and he kicked the ground. He didn't over analyse it. I always say you played the last pass and it wasn't so good but he kicked on and he kept going and he pressed the keeper and then he got his reward for that."

What is clear from that isolated moment is that the manager's message is clearly seeping through to the players. It's those kinds of fine details that will have shown Rodgers that the Celtic players are already buying what he is selling. Ange Postecoglou often spoke of how he needed to earn the buy-in from the Celtic board, players and supporters after a tough start to life in Glasgow. He didn't do too badly, in the end, as the Aussie 'Waltzing Matilda'd' off with five out of six trophies available to him in two years at the helm.

Rodgers will know he is laying his seven out of seven trophies from his first stint on the line this season. From the moment he walked into the building, he already had gravitas as a manager owing to his achievements in the game. There was no need for a hard sell but there will have been a mutual understanding of how life was going to change and how it was going to be under the new man.

It's going to be different. That's a given. How else do you explain Daizen Maeda being thrust up front as a striker and taking over the Kyogo Furuhashi role? The same Kyogo who swept the boards in the Player of the Year awards last season and netted 34 goals for his club. Now Celtic has a situation on their hands whereby Rodgers has created a rivalry between the two compatriots to see who leads the line and becomes the focal point in attack.

It's the friendliest rivalry on planet football, incidentally. It's the manager's way of also saying that there is no such thing as a certain starter in his team - not even for his talisman. That way every Celtic player in the first-team squad is kept on their toes and will want to bust a gut to impress the manager whilst simultaneously looking over their shoulder to see if someone is waiting in the wings to grab that coveted starting slot.

Nothing is out of bounds. Everyone is in a scrap to be involved. That's when players tend to bring their A-game to the party. Oh, it's a clever ploy by Rodgers all right. Even fringe players like midfielder David Turnbull could enjoy a renaissance and resurrection if they continue to buy in.

He looked excellent again in his latest 45-minute outing. He remains a player that has great vision and a keen eye for a pass as well as an explosive dig from a distance. You wouldn't put it past him to breathe new life into the former Motherwell man. "I said at the beginning of the season we'll play to hopefully a high level both technically and tactically," he said recently. "What you can never underestimate is what the heart gives you. As a team and as an individual player, you need to have heart. That's something that I can't give them. It's something that the coaches can't give them, but it's something that they have to have within."

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However, the players are going to have to help Rodgers help them if they want to become a permanent fixture in his Celtic team. They have to want it. That goes for Kyogo, Maeda, Reo Hatate et al and even fringe players like Turnbull. The Hoops boss possesses the managerial skill and ability to fashion elite-level stars out of some of the current crop of Celtic players. They just have to continue to buy what he's selling.

This ain't no dodgeball. It's Brodge-ball. You heard it here first.