Brendan Rodgers insists his Celtic side won’t get distracted in Dundee despite fans being struck by Old Firm fever.
The bitter rivals collide at Celtic Park on Saturday with both sides scrapping to be top of the Premiership pile going into the winter break. Rodgers knows the derby clash is one of the big selling points when it comes to players coming to Glasgow. But he is adamant none of his stars will take their eye off Dens Park as they look to build on the weekend win against Livingston. Rodgers said: “It (the derby) is a big part of coming to Celtic, being able to be involved in such an iconic game. But there is no time to think. You always just have to think about the next game.
“As boring as that might sound, you just have to focus on the next performance. We’ll look to maintain a performance level and take that into the Dundee game. Once it’s done, we can get ready for next weekend. It’s so far away. The weekend, these are always great games, but for us as managers, coaches, players, the focus is purely on Dundee. We’ll recover, train and travel – going up there looking to get three points.”
Rodgers enjoyed a Boxing Day win in Dundee during his first spell in charge of Celts and he’d love to bank another three points on the road this festive period. The Hoops gaffer has been impressed by the job done on Tayside by opposite number Tony Docherty and warned his side to expect a stern test. Dundee have had an extra few days to prepare after their clash with Aberdeen was controversially called off at the last minute at the weekend – even though the Dark Blues squad were able to train on the surface instead.
Rodgers said: “I’ve always enjoyed going to Dundee. The team has always played well and worked well there. The pitch is nice and big, which suits how we want to play, so we’ll go there looking to win. I know the game was postponed at the weekend but I think they trained on it, didn’t they? Listen, Tony has done a very good job there. He’s been a coach around the game for a long time and it’s great to see him get that opportunity to manage. He’s done an excellent job.
“Whatever the pitch looks like, we’ll prepare for a tough game. We saw that when we played them earlier in the season. Even though we won convincingly (3-0) in the end, it was a tough game, so we’ve prepared for the same.”
Rodgers wants his Celts to pick up where they left off in the 2-0 win against Livingston after shaking off the gloom on the back of two league defeats on the spin.
He said: “I think the next three games are clearly important for us. December can always be a grind. It can be a real grind of a month with lots of games. You want the tempo and intensity. That’s been hard for us at times, purely because a lot of the same players are having to play. We’ve not been able to jig it about. Against Livingston, the guys responded really well and we want to keep that going into the next game.”
Rodgers could be boosted by the return of long-term crocks Reo Hatate and Liel Abada – either on Boxing Day or against Gers at the weekend. But he also revealed Kyogo – who ended his seven-match barren streak in the Livi win – is showing no signs of being hampered by his underlying shoulder issue that is expected to require surgery at some stage.
When asked if it was bothering the hitman, Rodgers said: “We haven’t seen that. Whether it is internally for him, I’m not so sure. But it was nice for him to get his goal against Livingston. He deserved that. He had some opportunities that weren’t quite there, he made some good runs and players were finding him. It was nice for him to get that goal in the six yard box.”