McGhee believes only Dons can halt green machine
MARK McGHEE has claimed Aberdeen are the only team that can stop Celtic becoming ‘Invincibles’ this season.
The Motherwell manager, sent to the stand in midweek as his team were thumped 7-2 at Pittodrie, watched an under-par Brendan Rodgers side struggle on a poor surface yesterday.
Yet they still went on to score a 20th league win in a row and keep their unbeaten run going for a 31st domestic game since the start of the season thanks to a 2-0 Parkhead victory.
The rampant champions-elect have 13 Ladbrokes Premiership games to play and host Championship strugglers St Mirren in the quarter-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup.
And only a potential trip to Pittodrie after the split should hold any great fears for Celtic, according to McGhee.
When asked if he could see Celtic going through the entire campaign undefeated, McGhee said: ‘Yeah, I could. Although if Aberdeen can play as well as they did against us the other night then that would be a hell of a game because one thing that was possibly not said enough the other night was how good they were.
‘There was a lot of other stuff went on but that detracted from their performance. I thought they were brilliant. That is as good as I have seen them in a long time. If they play as well as that then, up there at Pittodrie, who knows?’
Meanwhile, McGhee hopes the return of Stephen Robinson to his coaching staff can help Motherwell achieve their lateseason aim of claiming a top-six berth.
Robinson has answered the SOS of the Fir Park club following his sacking
by League One side Oldham Athletic.
The Ulsterman will start back this week to join James McFadden on the backroom team as McGhee braces himself for a suspension from the dugout.
The Scotland No2 looks sure to be served with a second SFA ban of the season after the stormy scenes from Wednesday night.
‘We’ve been talking about it for a while and I just felt, with James in his role, the timing had to be right and I had to feel it was necessary,’ explained McGhee.
‘Everybody knows him, everybody likes him. We were sorry he left and are glad he is coming back.’
Robinson, part of the Northern Ireland coaching staff, quit as McGhee’s assistant last summer to become Oldham boss.
He will return to the dugout at Motherwell when Dundee visit next Saturday.
That is a game Stephen McManus and Steven Hammell are already touch and go to make after picking up injuries at Parkhead.
Hammell had to be replaced by Joe Chalmers after the warm-up and McManus hobbled off with a groin problem only five minutes in.
‘(Chalmers) struggled a bit with (James) Forrest at the second goal but there is not a full-back in Scotland who’d live with him at the moment — his pace and his energy and his brightness,’ noted McGhee.
‘So we have got to forgive him for that.’
Forrest netted after 41 minutes to add to a Moussa Dembele penalty.
‘I’m delighted to get another goal, the three points, a clean sheet and another good performance,’ said the Scotland winger.
‘A few times this season when we haven’t been at our best we’ve still managed to keep a clean sheet and win the game. This is as good as winning 6-0 last week as it shows you can do both sides of the game.’