Celtic manager refuses to rule out another invincible treble as he demands 'aggression'

Instead, Rodgers guided Celtic to an unprecedented invincible treble, before landing the first back-to-back clean sweeps in the annals of Scottish football. It seems unthinkable that another domestic league season without loss could be racked up in the first campaign of his second spell. But he refuses to dismiss that possibility, and believes his experience of setting up a run of trebles can ensure the current squad do not allow their “aggression” to waiver.

“Everything is possible,” Rodgers said. “Each season brings a new challenge. When I think back to when I came in here the last time in 2016, everyone was saying it was all smooth and it was great and we were invincible, but it certainy wasn’t that when we came in. When we came in, people were talking about we’re finished. Rangers were coming back into the league having beaten Celtic well in the Scottish Cup, even though it was on penalties. So there was a lot of work to do back then. Obviously, when you have success, people don’t see that and just think it’s all fluent. But I knew when I came there was a lot of work to do, infrastructural work, structure of the team.

“I can give the players advice on what the pitfalls are when you’ve done a treble. I have actually been through that with them over the course of the pre-season. We have done little workshops based around having that success. But also what the pitfalls of success are. And what the traps are that they have to be aware of. That’s something I can help with. The key thing is that you have to stay aggressive. You can’t go timid. In anything.

“That’s number one - and you find that out from how they defend, from how they run. Do they run the same way and do they press the same? That’s when you see it. Everything is based on aggression and your intent. Because when you don’t have that, you don’t quite get there. You never get close enough to touch the opponent. I can spot that very, very quickly. The beauty here is that the club has done great so far in refreshing the squad. There is competition and that’s always great for players as well. But it’s about knowing what’s ahead and having that anticipation for it. You want to anticipate what the issues could be further down the line. That means you can then recap on all of that. You’re always trying to deal with pressure by anticipating it. There will be pressure over the course of the season. But this is a group that is open to learning and open to understanding what those traps are.”