At Ibrox a little over a week ago, Brendan Rodgers didn’t recognise his Celtic team. The intensity and the will to win that has marked their season was absent, while Rangers had those qualities in spades.
On the day, you wouldn’t have known that it was Celtic who are runaway leaders at the top of the Premiership table, but they have since increased that gap even further due to their own reaction to their Old Firm disappointment and the inability of Rangers to consistently put on such a level of performance on a consistent basis.
And it is that consistency of mentality and of attitude that Rodgers says is the key thing that has separated his side from the rest this season, and why he has full faith in them every time they travel to a potentially tricky away venue.
Rodgers’ men have garnered 25 points so far this term away from Celtic Park, while Rangers have spilled points all over the country. Of the 15 points that separate the Glasgow rivals, 12 can be accounted for in Celtic’s greater ability to grind out wins on their travels with almost robotically reliable repetition.
They will need all of those qualities at lunchtime tomorrow as they take the long road north to Dingwall to face in-form Ross County, particularly as they will be without their own red-hot wingers Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda, who are both toiling with minor niggles.
Back-up options James Forrest and Luis Palma – who suffered a bereavement this week – also didn’t travel, but Rodgers is confident the rest of his squad will again show the sort of fortitude that has allowed them to rack up so many points on the road so far this term.
“Firstly, the points gap is there because we've been so consistent,” Rodgers said. “That's the reality.
"Whatever points another team gets, I can look at ourselves and know the consistency of this team has been very, very good.
“But absolutely, I don't think it's one we can ever take a foot off the pedal.
“The Rangers game at Ibrox a few weeks back, that was it. I know in sport you can lose, but the genuine intensity of our games was nowhere near anywhere where I'd expect it to be and wanted it to be at all.
“So that's a great learning. The game has been a learning opportunity for us because being not that competitive, it’s never been that in the main. But the learning opportunity was in the simplicity of it.
“If you don't put the effort in and the work really, you won't get your wins. And this is what this team have been brilliant at, the consistency we produce.
“That's what we focus on, that's what our messaging is and that's what we demand every single day.
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“You can only win your games. I repeat, the consistency of which the players have shown is a great testament to them because that can get overlooked. The focus cannot always be on the team winning points and whatever else.
“I can only look at my team and the club as a whole, the consistency and the level at which we can repetitively perform and win and win and win after winning.
“It's not an easy thing to do and there's many examples of that. But this group, the mentality in the club as a whole, consistently how we keep going. It’s really good and we want to keep doing it.
“These games at this time of the year, there's no points for style. We always want to go and play and win in the best way that we possibly can. It's always the nature of our game.
“Ultimately, this will be about resilience and mentality and getting through the tough moments in the game and looking to be as attack minded as we possibly can be.”
Rodgers is hopeful that both Kuhn and Maeda will be back for Tuesday night’s game against Dundee at Dens Park, allaying fears that Celtic could be left short on the flanks for the crucial Champions League tie against Young Boys that is looming on the horizon, with Forrest not expected to be back in contention for a few weeks at least.
“Daizen has obviously played a lot of football and just felt something that we didn't want to aggravate,” he said.
“He's gone for a scan so it's not too serious but it just rules him out of this game. And likewise with Nicolas, he felt something just in the warm-up, had the scan, nothing too serious, but just too much of a risk and he won't be able to go this weekend.
“So, keep them here, get them treatment and then we'll assess them for Tuesday's game.”
