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Brendan Rodgers blanks Aberdeen win over Rangers and swears Celtic will reap rewards from the Dons
Brendan Rodgers believes Aberdeen’s thrilling thrust will help drive Celtic forward.
And the Parkhead boss insists his troops have huge hunger to get their hands back onto the Premier Sports Cup. Rodgers’ side face Jimmy Thelin’s men in the semi-final with the sides separated only on goal difference at the top of the Premiership. Celtic and Aberdeen’s only points dropped in ten top-flight games were to each other following a see-saw 2-2 draw in Glasgow a fortnight ago.
Thelin’s team are pushing and beat Rangers in midweek, although Rodgers revealed he hasn’t watched the game. Asked if it was good for Scottish football to see the Reds performing to a high level, Rodgers said: “Yeah, I think it is brilliant. I think it’s great. Whether it is football, or whether it is business, any competition is healthy and it’s what makes you better. You will always drive your own standards and your own standard of performance, absolutely. But competition is really, really healthy and can keep moving you forward.
“And Aberdeen are up there fighting as well, and everyone will expect Rangers to be there at some point, there will be other teams, big clubs from Edinburgh will feel they want to be up there challenging as well. So I think the more competitive, then, of course, that can improve you.”
Aberdeen’s form isn’t a surprise to Rodgers as he said: “No, it’s a great credit to them. In their first 10 league games, they have played with that consistency and done really well, have really good players.
“Jimmy has done a fantastic job and good coaching staff behind the scenes, too. I always expect Aberdeen because of my first time up here to be up there challenging. In Derek’s [McInnes] time, he had a great period, so I always expect them to be there, so to see them is not a surprise, they are playing very well.”
Rodgers says his side will learn from the 2-2 draw and continued: “It’s a game we should have won. We were 2-0 up and had other chances and we got punished for our slackness in the first 15/20 minutes of the second half.
“That showed us that if you are slack and not concentrated and committed in your defending, they have quality players who can hurt you. When we pressed the game really well, we created opportunities and could dominate the ball.
“When we didn’t, if you look at the first goal we conceded, standard of pressing wasn’t at our level. Whether that was because it was just after half-time or not, I don’t know. But it certainly wasn’t at the standard we would expect and want.
“If you do that against good, technical players who can run in behind, then that can hurt you. That gave them momentum for the next 15 minutes or so.
“That has to be a learning for us and it will be. Last 20 minutes, we had chances to win, but we also know that we need to play very well to reach the final.”
Aberdeen head to Hampden fresh from beating Rangers, but Rodgers did not need his views on the Dons reinforced by that result having already done plenty of homework on the Reds.
He said: “I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched it. I’ve seen what our analysts have brought through. I watched the game that we only played them a couple of weeks ago and there’s no doubt if there was a big distance between the games, then, of course, I would have watched it.
“But I’ve seen what our analysts and Peter Houston and the guys have prepared and it is no different really to what we’d seen a couple of weeks ago.
“So we’ve done all the analysis, we had a deep analysis after that game and obviously then adding to that some of the bits that we have seen during the week. So, yeah, and then we’ll play our game.”
Celtic missed out on the trophy last term, but Rodgers wants it again and said: “It certainly gives us hunger because we missed out on it last season. Our hunger is there to reach our first final [of the season] and we have a great opportunity to get there.”
Rodgers won his first trophy as Celtic manager when beating the Dons in the 2016/17 League Cup Final at Hampden and added: “It was brilliant, it was a great feeling.
“We played ever so well in the final, so I think it gave the supporters a little bit of trust in me that I was here to win and that we could win. And, likewise this time as well.
"It was one that eluded us last year and that didn’t sit comfortably with us, so we have a chance now and that’s what we want and we look to bring our game to a good surface and play our football.
“It’s been a great joy to go there, but I’ve always treated it like it’s my first time. That’s been my mindset.
“I’m excited about being there and seeing half the stadium full of Celtic supporters and with either the opportunity to win a final or get to a final. It will be no different.”
