McInnes: Criticism of Parkhead side is ‘unfair’ and ‘unjust’
ABERDEEN manager Derek McInnes has leapt to the defence of Brendan Rodgers and insists criticism of Celtic’s slow start to the campaign is “unfair” and “unjust”.
The Dons travel to Parkhead on Saturday keen to add to the Bhoys’ league woes, with the reigning champions having made their worst start to a season for 20 years.
Kilmarnock inflicted the latest set-back in a 2-1 victory at the weekend, leaving Rugby Park striker Kris Boyd to claim that there was a divide in the Hoops’ dressing room.
Aberdeen ended a 10-game losing run to Rodgers’ side with a win on the final day of last term and McInnes admits the Pittodrie outfit can expect to face a Celtic team desperate to make amends.
McInnes, whose side reached the Betfred Cup semi-finals with a penalty shoot-out triumph over Hibs on Tuesday, said: “They’ll be a wounded animal with the amount of unfair criticism they’re getting at the minute and a lot of it unjust.
“I’m sure they’re all guns blazing but we’ll take confidence from the last couple of results.
“It was another clean sheet against Hibs and we had to defend well against another good team. It will be something similar on Saturday.”
Following 120 minutes of gripping football at Easter Road, McInnes is planning to make changes to the side for the trip to Glasgow.
He added: “We’ll dust ourselves down, hopefully we can have maybe one or two back but we’ll see how we are.”