TREBLE YELL
The message is loud and clear for Rodgers as Celts fans turn up volume, now Bren must tune out the...
IF YOU know your history, you will be well aware that Celtic have only won a treble on three occasions in the past – in 1967, 1969 and 2001.
And you will also appreciate the huge significance of the Parkhead club triumphing in the William Hill Scottish Cup final against Aberdeen at Hampden next month.
Prevail against their Pittodrie rivals and the Betfred Cup and Ladbrokes Premiership winners will complete a clean sweep of domestic trophies for the fourth time.
Brendan Rodgers, as a lifelong supporter as well as the manager, fully understands the magnitude of the feat his side stand on the brink of achieving in his debut season in Glasgow.
The Irishman anticipates the sense of excitement about Celtic winning the Treble escalating significantly in the coming weeks and envisages having to blank out the hysteria in order to focus on the task in hand.
“I am fully aware of it,” he said. “In fact, I can’t get away from it! I’m just going to put ear plugs in for the next month!
“Listen, I just don’t tend to think too much about it. When you win games there is a consequence of that, so if we beat Aberdeen in the final it’ll be ‘okay, it’s nice.’
“I’ve said before, it’s very dangerous to think otherwise. Never get too carried away in this game. I’ll repeat it, a slap on the back is only six inches from a slap on the backside.”
Yet, Rodgers also knows that in recent times Celtic’s record at Hampden had been far from impressive; they lost in the semi-final of both the League Cup and the Scottish Cup to Ross County and Rangers respectively last season when his predecessor Ronny Deila was in charge.
The 44-year-old believes that his side have overcome that hoodoo with their three appearances at the National Stadium this term – they beat Rangers and Aberdeen in the League Cup semi-final and final and defeated Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final on Sunday – and can approach the final with confidence.
HE believes the quality of the playing surface helps the high tempo game which he wants the likes of Stuart Armstrong, Scott Sinclair and Kieran Tierney to play.
“When I came in here and everyone complained about the Hampden record,” he said. “People said it wasn’t a good place for Celtic,” he said. “But I have to give credit to the staff at the stadium and say congratulations to them because I thought the pitch on Sunday was brilliant.
“That was our downfall in the home game against Rangers last month when we drew 1-1. But the pitch was perfect and you could see the speed in the ball and how quickly we can move it. With the speed of the team it’s a much better tempo for us.
“But you have to cope; when you go to Hampden and you
want to win things you have to be able to play. You have to be able to perform and deal with pressure. As the season has gone on we’ve got better and better and better at that.” Celtic thrashed Aberdeen 3-0 in the Betfred Cup final in November to lift their first piece of silverware under their new manager. But Rodgers feels their rivals will be determined to redeem themselves after their disappointing showing that day and will provide them with stiff opposition. “Aberdeen will probably feel they have something to prove after the League Cup final,” he said. “Derek has done an amazing job there. Since he’s come in he’s done a fantastic job. He has got his team really organised. Of course, they will want to come and make a better showing.
“But my focus can only be on Celtic. That is three times we’ve played at Hampden now and we’ve played at a really, really good level.
“So the players are happy and have good energy. Thankfully they play the game like they know what they’re doing.”
RODGERS continued: “You all saw the semifinal last year and it was a tough one for Celtic to take. It was good for me to see the joy and happiness on the faces of the supporters on Sunday.
“The players are exciting them with the level of performances. The fans are educated now in terms of what we’re doing.
“We pass the ball back, go side to side, if they can’t go forward they come back out and they are not being defensive. That’s starting a new attack and the players are happy.
“The style hasn’t changed but the system has and the players are now happy to flit in and out of these systems and play.
“Celtic is a very stable club, the club is happy but we have to keep moving forward. I thought we looked a real powerful team in l ots of elements i n the game.”
The 2-0 win over Rangers at Hampden on Sunday extended Celtic’s unbeaten domestic run to 41 games. They will seek to extend that further when they travel to Ibrox to face the same opponents in a league game on Saturday.
Rodgers, whose players secured their sixth consecutive Scottish title with an emphatic 5-0 win over Hearts at Tynecastle at the start of this month, is unconcerned about going the entire season without suffering a loss.
“We won’t need that to keep our focus on the final,” he said. “We go into the remaining games to try and produce the maximum and get us the win. If it does? Great. If not then fine.
“It’s not a massive priority of mine, but that doesn’t say we don’t go into every game to win. We’ve shown that over the course of the season, but it’s not the be all and end all.”