Yes, Celtic were shorn Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kelechi Iheanacho, Alistair Johnston and Daizen Maeda at Tynecastle, and started inexperienced trio of Colby Donovan, Dane Murray and Johnny Kenny.

But Rodgers was were still able to select record signing Arne Engels, whose reported £11m transfer fee is likely more than the entire Hearts XI cost.

The experienced Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, Kasper Schmeichel, Liam Scales and Kieran Tierney were all in the XI, too, along with summer signings Sebastian Tounekti and Benjamin Nygren.

Tounekti was a bright spark in the first half and has shown flashes since his summer arrival. Nygren, too, has made contributions, including a goal in Thursday's Europa League win over Sturm Graz.

But apart from that duo - and Iheanacho, who has chipped in with three goals - the summer recruits have done precious little.

Michel-Ange Balikwisha came off the bench at Tynecastle, as did Shin Yamada. Both have pedigree from Belgian and Japanese football, respectively, but neither have shown much as of yet at Celtic.

Hayato Inamura and Marcelo Saracchi have deputised at times in defence without making a significant impact, while youngsters Jahmai Simpson-Pusey and Callum Osmand...