Brendan Rodgers ready for Aberdeen challenge | OneFootball

The Celts are on the road north for Wednesday’s head-to-head with Aberdeen at Pittodrie with the last couple of weeks seeing the Hoops opening up a four-point lead over their SPFL rivals.

The Dons drew in successive trips to the capital – 3-3 at Easter Road and 1-1 at Tynecastle - after losing 2-1 to St Mirren in Paisley while the Celts continued to rack up the points in some style.

Over the same time spell, a win of 4-1 away over Hearts, and their 5-0 win over Ross County at the weekend sandwiched a 1-1 Champions League draw with Cub Brugge.

However, Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers knows Jimmy Thelin’s Aberdeen will provide a different test on their own patch tomorrow night.

The Irishman said: “It’s always a challenge going to Pittodrie, obviously they’ve done really well this season.

“The last week or so are probably not the results they would have wanted, but they’ve had a very, very good start and Jimmy’s done a fantastic job there.

“They’re very structured in how they play, very clear in their process in how they want to work, so we expect a really tough game.”

The Celts were dominant in the two previous games against Aberdeen this season, even if the games delivered differing outcomes – a 2-2 draw in the SPFL and a 6-0 win the League Cup semi-final – leaving a guessing game as to how this game will go.

The manager said: “I can only control what we want to do in the game, and that is to bring a really positive attitude, and an attacking attitude in the game.

“I think the first game at home when we drew 2-2, we were a bit slack, like I’ve said before and we got punished for that, but we still, over the course of the two games, we created a lot of opportunities to score.

“And we were defensively strong apart from in those couple of moments.

“But, it’s away from home, and every game away from home, especially with the top teams, it’s always a challenge, so we’ll expect that there.

“I had in mind what the team against Aberdeen was going to be irrespective of the weekend, but it’s always nice whenever the players that do come in, come in and perform.

“They really confirmed their qualities and how they can work, so that was the beauty of the weekend, it was so fluid, it was so fast and the tempo was really, really good.

“We created a lot opportunities to score more than we did, and that’s what you want, you want your players to come in and perform, and every single one of them did that.”

The players certainly did perform in the 5-0 win over Ross County, and the manager added: “It’s what you want.

“What was great about weekend was it shows you that football really is a process of bringing players in.

“If you look at the likes of Luke McCowan, who’s only come in, he’s adapted his style in order to play for us.

“He has a winning mentality, has great technical qualities, tactically he’s learning all the time and you see then the clarity in his work and how good he was.

“He was fantastic for Dundee, but was able to come here and, step by step, throughout a process he has now come in and been absolutely first class.

“So, he and the other players that came in did very, very well, but they’re not cover players. I would have absolutely no hesitation in starting the same team at Aberdeen tomorrow night.

“However, we always have to plan for the games and the proximity of games obviously over the course of the coming months.”

Watch the full interview to hear Brendan Rodgers on:

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Fixtures

Aberdeen Vs. Celtic - Wed, Dec 4th 2024, 20:00