WARY HEARTS BOSS LEVEIN IS BRACED FOR A BACKLASH FROM CELTIC—
Levein warns hurting Celtic are likely to be out to prove a point after December drubbing in Gorgie
CRAIG LEVEIN expects to face a ‘hurting’ Celtic tonight, a smarting team with a point to prove after they were torn apart last month by his teenage Tynecastle tyros and brutally shorn of their Invincible tag.
The Hearts manager does not accept the suggestion that last season’s unbeaten Treble winners are a weakened force, however.
After dropping just six points during Brendan Rodgers’ maiden campaign, Celtic have already drawn this season with St Johnstone, Hibs (twice), Kilmarnock, Motherwell, and Rangers, as well as that infamous 4-0 filleting in Gorgie on December 17.
Levein now believes rival teams are slowly getting to grips with Celtic — while pointing out the major caveat that the Parkhead side are still 11 points clear at the summit of the Scottish Premiership.
‘I don’t know if revenge is the right word, but Celtic might be hurting after they lost their unbeaten record to us and they might have a point to prove,’ said Levein (right).
‘That run had to end at some point. But Brendan has got them very quickly back on track.
‘People say they haven’t been playing great but they are still picking up points. They are still doing really well. They are still the best team in the league by a fair margin.’ Levein is also convinced that more teams now know how to better handle Rodgers’ recruits, such as Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair. The Gorgie boss added: ‘I think it takes time to get to know their players and their system and work out the best thing to do to give you a chance of winning. ‘There are a lot of good managers in this league and I think they are now looking at it and saying: “Let’s put it to one side that Celtic have spent the most money and got the best players. How do we compete?”
‘Partick Thistle did a decent job against Celtic recently. Rangers and Hibs have done a good job against them, too. But, historically, going through to Celtic Park has been tough for Hearts and I don’t expect this match to be any different.’ Levein welcomes back ‘big-game player’ Kyle Lafferty from suspension for the trip along the M8. The Northern Ireland international scored the second goal in that 4-0 win over Celtic last month, with Harry Cochrane and a David Milinkovic double completing the rout.
Lafferty is attracting interest from Sunderland and overseas but Levein says it will take an exceptional bid for him to part with the former Rangers striker before the transfer deadline.
‘(He will stay) unless somebody comes in with an offer that we can’t refuse, which is the same for every other player on our books,’ said Levein. ‘We sold Isma Goncalves and we have released Cole Stockton, so we are toiling for strikers.
‘In this window, we have brought in Steven Naismith, Demetri Mitchell and Danny Amankwaa and lost Isma, Cole, Jamie Walker, Rafa Grzelak — and Krystian Nowak is on his way (to Greek side Panionios). So I’m hoping to bring in two players — a striker and a midfielder.’
Hearts midfielder Ross Callachan, meanwhile, has revealed that his own mum, Sam, mocked him when he predicted last month that Hearts would become the first domestic side to beat Rodgers’ Celtic.
‘I actually had a funny feeling we could do something that day. I even said to my mum before the game that I thought we would win and she just laughed at me,’ he admitted.
‘Celtic will definitely be hurting because nobody likes to lose 4-0, especially given the incredible run they were on.
‘I’m sure they will have been disappointed to lose it in that manner and they will be out to make sure nothing like that happens again.
‘Celtic might be more pumped up because of what happened last month but we are 12 games unbeaten and we go into the match with confidence.’