Weakness Dons can exploit

Former Dons and Ross County manager Alex Smith delivers his verdict on the week in football

There is a huge amount of excitement at Celtic Park after they made it back to the Champions League group stages – but I feel Aberdeen can dampen that enthusiasm at Parkhead tomorrow.

It is great for Scottish football that Celtic are back in the Champions League.

It helps our coefficient and all of the top-flight clubs benefited from the Hoops getting past Hapoel Be’er Sheva on Tuesday.

However, it was a very tough 90 minutes in Israel for the Celts and they scraped through 5-4 on aggregate after a 2-0 defeat in the second leg.

Celtic have shown that they can be vulnerable and when they concede a goal they have a tendency to lose their shape and a bit of confidence.

Brendan Rodgers and his coaching team must have been very concerned when they went 2-0 down on Tuesday but his players did well to hold out and earn a big payday for the club.

However, Aberdeen have nothing to fear and should look to exploit that defensive weakness.

Tuesday’s game will have taken a lot out of the Celtic players.

Traditionally, a team that plays away from home in Europe midweek tends to struggle the following weekend, even if making a few changes to try to freshen it up.

Aberdeen will be hoping that is the case this weekend. It has been a long time since Aberdeen last won a league match at Celtic Park but they are capable of doing it.

Celtic will earn between £20million to £30million for making the Champions League group stages and I hope that money is wisely invested.

The Hoops have given young Scottish players, such as Kieran Tierney, Gary Mackay-Steven, Callum McGregor, James Forrest and Inverness-born Stuart Armstrong a chance in the last year.

They have been playing more Scottish players in the last two seasons than they have been for years. But with more money at their disposal it may mean that some of these Scottish players fall down the pecking order. I hope that isn’t the case.

It is great that Scottish players are getting to develop at a high level, but if new players are signed before Wednesday’s transfer deadline they may have to move elsewhere.

Would Celtic have made it through the Hapoel Be’er Sheva tie had Ronny Deila been in charge? Possibly not. Rodgers gambled for more goals at Celtic Park when Hapoel got the scoreline back to 3-2 and the extra two they man-

“Traditionally, a team that plays away from home in Europe midweek tends to struggle the following weekend”

aged to net proved to be the difference.

Celtic look a more progressive side under the former Liverpool manager but I think they will be a little bit jaded tomorrow, so this is a good time for Aberdeen to take them on.