RONNY DEILA, the Celtic manager, last night insisted he did not care about Aberdeen and their resurgence because he knows his team will win the league if they play at their best.
This was a far more confident and positive Deila, who had taken the Champions League exit and defeat at Pittodrie to heart, even admitting that he was under pressure after a couple of bad results.
His belief in this Celtic side, however, has returned after a draw in Europe with Ajax and back-to-back domestic victories and ahead of tomorrow’s home match against Hearts.
And the message from Deila was that no matter how much league leaders Aberdeen have improved, nobody had enough about them catch the current champions.
Asked about the increased competition this season, Deila said: “It is getting better and better and that’s a positive thing. But it’s still early to say. We will know better when we come to the end of the season. Aberdeen have started very well and if they continue that way, then we won’t make it because they will have won every game! We have to get better than them.
“There will always be questions, that’s how it is. But I know it is about being focused on the long term. We have a lot of experience in doing that and we have a very strong team. That makes it very positive for everyone.
“We just have to focus on what we can do, I can’t do anything about Aberdeen and I don’t care either. We follow what they are doing, of course, but I know that if I get the best out of my team, we can be better than Aberdeen.
“I want to win the league. It’s not about them, it’s about us. I’m always into whether the team is doing well or getting better. If we are doing that and getting results, then we will see how good the others are.
“So I don’t care about what they are doing. I care about what I can do something with and that’s getting my team to be as good as possible. We work really hard to confront the players on what they can do better.”
Teenagers Kieran Tierney and Aidan Nesbitt played against Raith Rovers on Wednesday night and Deila believes the current crop of kids at Celtic can cut it and will be given their opportunity.
“You have to earn your chances in a big squad like this,” said the manager. “But the competition is less this year because there are three or four fewer players than last season and the youngsters are getting better now.
“It’s harder to bring in a young player now who is better than what we have and that’s because the connection between the Under 20s and the first team is much closer. They train with us three or four times a week and they are not afraid to be there, they really like to be among the top players and they start to understand ‘I have a chance here.’
“That’s the culture we are creating and it will come. I know it will come.”
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