It’s derby day this Sunday with the Celts aiming to come out of the weekend as they go into it – at the top of the SPFL table. Celtic Park is the venue with Rangers visiting for the 12:30 kick-off, and Brendan Rodgers and his players know what to expect despite being marked up as favourites to win their first derby meeting with their city rivals this term. The Irishman said: “We always expect the challenge. People can sometimes assume that when you’re doing well and everything’s going great that you’ll just turn up and win. “That’s a very dangerous way to think and that’s why at Celtic we never, ever do that. ‘We are in a really, really good place as a team, from a football perspective, the level we’re playing at with and without the ball is really pleasing.’ “But we come into these games and these are different games, these are emotional games. But how we’ve always tried to handle these is to focus on our performance. “So the players have prepared really well all this week and, Rangers will come in, and, like I said, it will be a tough game.”The Celts came through five derbies last term unbeaten with four wins and that 3-3 draw, and have also gone unbeaten in the early-season games this time around, and the manager was asked what pleased him most about the team’s performances now compared this time last year, He said: “Our pressing. I always say that passing the ball and pressing are twins. When you press the game well, you pass the game well. And there was probably the first six months of last season when we weren’t doing either so well with enough consistency. “That started to pick up in the second part of the season and then really that last three months of the season then tagged on into our pre-season and, now if you analyse the games, we’ve had three shots against us in three games. “That tells you how hard the team is pressing and working together. And that elevates the football, so I always say our mantra here is ‘respect the 30 per cent’, because that’s the most important bit, the bit when you don’t have the ball – how aggressive you are.” The manager pinpointed last weekend’s win over Stephen Robinson’s St Mirren side as an example of the difference. He said: “That was what was nice last week after the game when Stephen was talking about changing his team, probably wanting to go physical in set pieces – but we did all the dirty side of the game, and the top players do that. “They do the dirty side, some people call it easy because it’s not the stuff that get noticed a lot from the stands, but it’s absolutely key from a coaching perspective and the players’ perspective, that pressing side, the aggression, the compactness of the team, all of them brings the football to another level. “That’s been the most pleasing part.” The manager’s full press conference The Champions League draw Transfers in Transfers out Adding new players to a winning team Being equipped for the Champions League Busy week with the transfer window and derby Derby focus Match Centre Get live Celtic v Rangers updates from our official Match Centre – Visit the Match Centre FixturesCeltic Vs. Rangers – Sun, Sep 1st 2024, 12:30
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