As Celtic gear up for their Premiership clash with Hearts at Tynecastle, manager Brendan Rodgers has made a bold comparison between his current squad and the legendary Invincible side of 2016/17.
Rodgers believes his present-day team possesses a greater level of speed, setting them apart from the historic Treble-winning side of his first tenure.
Rodgers’ 2016/17 team etched their place in history with an undefeated domestic season, clinching the Treble in what remains a remarkable achievement in Scottish football. While Rodgers praised that side’s ability to dominate possession and deliver goals, he pointed out one strength that the current group has over the side from 8 years ago.
“This team will be faster,” he told Celtic TV.
“I would say there’s more speed in this team. The team I had first time around were very good in their possession, very good in terms of scoring goals, and they were a very strong group mentality.
“This is a different group, a different generation. It’s nearly a decade since 2016 and football changes. It’s a different group of personalities. That team I had was super successful, and that first season was history-making in terms of what the players did. It’s about this team creating their own history. I’m so pleased with how it’s gone but we still have a lot of work to do.”
If this side can create anything similar to what the sie achieved in Rodgers’ first season, they won’t be doing too badly.
The Hoops are unbeaten as we’re now in November, and have a League Cup final on the Horizon, playing Rangers next month.
But with tough places still to visit, a slip-up is inevitable. No one is saying that a treble will be won this season, nevermind one without a loss.
However, there is an opportunity to surpass the team that Rodgers had in his first season. Celtic are essentially a win away from qualifying for the knockout round of the CHampions League, playing a tie to gain entry into the last 16.
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, yet.