Archibald is aiming to pile on the pain

CONTRARY to a growing belief in some quarters, Celtic have not yet bubbled under. Unlike any of their eight previous encounters with Partick Thistle since Brendan Rodgers took charge, however, the Parkhead side are approaching tomorrow’s Betfred Cup encounter at Firhill having fallen off the crest of a wave. Back-to-back defeats for the first time since the Northern Irishman took charge would represent grounds for concern in any event. But disquiet on the manager’s behalf over the summer net spend, the Dedryck Boyata saga and the loss of Champions League football for the first time in three years has added to a gloomy picture. Alan Archibald is well schooled in what generally happens next, though. The Thistle boss has spent a lifetime wondering if a sword can be put to the throat of a wounded behemoth only for it to bite back hard. ‘I don’t think it’s different,’ he said. ‘They’ve had a couple of bad results but I know how that feels. We had two bad ones against Ayr. ‘But they are top professionals who just go about their business. I think since Brendan took over he has always treated every game the same. ‘They don’t do anything different in terms of how they approach it. ‘So we just have to make sure we are at our very best. To have any hope we’ve got to be at our best.’ Asked how important set-pieces might be in the clash, Archibald asked his inquisitor with the hint of a smile what end of the park he had in mind. He was fooling no one. In Athens on Tuesday, Rodgers’ players lost the second goal of the night because of an inability to cope with a routine, deep set-piece from the left. It can be taken as read that any fouls Thistle win within the G20 postcode will be taking the shortest possible route to Craig Gordon’s goalmouth. ‘Set-pieces are massively important because it’s a chance to get the ball in the box,’ said Archibald. ‘It’s something we’ll work on and we have a couple of aerial threats. Tam (O’Ware) has just got his first goal for the club and I’m delighted with that.’ For all Archibald’s men took a couple of hidings from their city neighbours over the past two years — 4-1 and 5-0 being the more painful results — they also lost four times by an odd goal and claimed a draw at Parkhead. The key to standing any chance of causing an upset is clear. ‘We need to start well,’ said Archibald. ‘There are two ways of looking at it; after their European result they could come out really angry and aggressive or they might be a little low in confidence but I doubt that — top players rarely are.’