Why Brendan Rodgers is so thrilled with Luke McCowan at Celtic

How are the players looking from the weekend ahead of this game? Are they all available for tomorrow?

We’ve only got Scott Bain out, who has a little bit of illness. Apart from that, all our outfield players are ready and available.

You made six changes at the weekend and it didn't seem like it at all. The team were pretty seamless. Are we expecting to see many changes again now that we're coming into December and there's going to be so many games?

Yeah, I think over the course of the coming months that it's very, very important for us to have the energy in the game, because of how we play. That's what we think about every time we go into each game. The boys at the weekend were absolutely superb.

The attitude, the energy in the game, right from the first whistle. How they pressed the game, how they attacked the game. It was a very, very good performance. We just recover and then look at the next team for the next game.

How much are you and the team looking forward to this top-of-the-table clash at Pittodrie?

It's always a challenge going to Pittodrie. Obviously, they've done very well this season.

The last week or so are maybe not the results they would have wanted, but still they've made a very, very good start. Jimmy's done a fantastic job there.

They are very structured in how they play, very clear in the process and how they want to work. So, we expect a really tough game.

In terms of the previous matches you've played against them, they were two very different games. How do you expect the game to shape up? Do you expect it to be similar to either of those two games or different entirely?

I don't know. I can only control what we want to do in the game and that's bring a really positive attitude and attacking attitude. I think the first game at home when we drew 2-2, we were a bit slack and we got punished for that.

Over the course of the two games, we created a lot of opportunities to score and were defensively strong apart from in those couple of moments. But it's away from home and every game away from home, especially the top teams, it's always a challenge. So, we'll expect that there but I also expect us to, from the first whistle, really go to create the game and look to give Aberdeen problems.

Is it the best position a manager could want to be in? The team’s winning, big games coming up up, Champions League, League Cup final, players desperate to play.

Yeah, it's what you want. What was great about the weekend was it shows you that football really is a process.

If you look at the likes of Luke McCowan who's only just come in, he's adapted his style in order to play for us. He has a winning mentality, he has great technical quality, tactically he's learning all the time and you see now the clarity in his work and how good he was. He was fantastic for Dundee but was able to come into here and step-by-step throughout a process he's now come in and absolutely been first class.

He and the other players that came in have done very, very well but they're not cover players. I would have absolutely no hesitation in starting the same team at Aberdeen tomorrow night.

However, we always have to plan for the games and the proximity of the games and obviously over the course of the coming months.

I noticed after the games you were speaking to him, it looked as though he was asking you questions about specifics. It looks like he's eager to learn. Was that the case?

It was just on the pressing one towards the end of the game, we'd sort of shifted our pressing structure and he was just getting clarity around that there. He's a learner, there's absolutely no doubt about that. He's got a great career ahead of him.

He has all the tools. I think coming in it's not an easy adaptation to come into a big club with a big expectation and pressure. But he's settled in really, really well.

He’s now one of us because I see this winning mentality. I see the hunger he has to learn. I see the humbleness every day and how hard he works.

He knows whether he comes off the bench or whether he starts a game, the opportunity is there for him to make an impact. It's so important to have guys that are hungry and want to learn.

That says a lot for him, doesn't it? He could have easily just taken the applause but he was trying to find little things to make him better.

He's a real joy to work with. I think when you've got guys like Callum McGregor and that here, you create more Callum McGregors. That's why you have top, top professionals. And the learning that he will get on a day-to-day basis from seeing the likes of Cal and working with the coaches and myself, then you have to be curious, you have to want to learn and he's certainly one of those.

If Luke keeps this up, could he get international recognition with Scotland too?

Yeah, I don't think there's any question of that. I think if you look at the tools that he has. International level for me is about technique, tactical idea and having a level of speed that allows you to get around the field. So you'll have some really good players but just maybe aren't quite cut out for that mobility and fast pace at the international level.

Luke has that. If I look at him technically, and physically. That was the analysis that we did before bringing him in to see where he was at in terms of his running power, his physicality. So that's there at a really, really high level. So we know he can do that.

Technically, he's finding the comfort now in the game. Tactically, like I said, he's shown that you see how quickly now he's adapted.

Him and Paulo Bernardo were brilliant at the weekend in terms of how they linked together. So that tells you he's learning all the concepts and principles of how we play. He has personality.

There's absolutely no doubt if you play for Celtic, he's going to be able to play for Scotland for sure.

You've got two players for each position. Do you have to keep persevering and saying, look, we can still get better?

Always, yeah. Because you always have to, I think, at every moment you can. I never say complacency, but contentment is something that you don't want to have. You don't want to be content, you don't want to be happy. You always have to be improving and developing. And that's something that we as a club want to be able to do.

I think we've been able to, in the last couple of windows, really energise the squad and bring it to a level that allows us to work with how we're working at the moment. But like I say, we always have to look beyond that and look to the future.

When you get a performance like Saturday after making six changes, does it give you certain thoughts and questions about what team you'll pick for the really big games as well? Are players making it really difficult for you to make these selections?

I had in my mind what the Aberdeen team was going to be irrespective of the weekend. But it's always nice whenever the players do come in and perform and really confirm their qualities and how they can work. That was the beauty of the weekend. It was so fluid, it was so fast and the tempo was really, really good.

It created a lot of opportunities to score more than we did. And like I said, that's what you want. You want your players to come in and perform and every single one of them did that.

In order to keep the energy in the team and how you want, someone can do absolutely brilliant in that game, but it might only be a couple of days later. It’s something that is so important, especially how we play.

How big is this encounter in terms of what the ramifications  could be in terms of league race, even this early?

It's still such a long way to go. At this moment in time if we win the game, ok, you get a bit of a gap against the team behind you.

But it's still such a long way to go and so many games. I think it's always nice if you can go to one of your rivals and put in a good performance and get the points.

Is it more the psychological damage you can inflict on others rather than what you can get for yourself?

You can only worry about yourself. You can't control what other people think.

I think you can only go and look to perform. That’s our notion getting into every game. Our objective getting into the game is to work even harder than we did Saturday and perform.

So really that's all we can think about. Every game is an opportunity for us to impose our style in the game. We know it will be a tough game.

We know the crowd will be very vocal behind their team. It’s still a big opportunity for us. We've played in difficult grounds and difficult atmospheres and coped really well.

Do you have to use different methods to get into of your players' minds at times to keep their standards so high?

I think it's more taking them on the journey and the story and what it is we want to achieve. And finding the various ways to stimulate and make sure they're ready. The players work ever so hard on a daily basis. Coaches do a brilliant job in repeating our patterns of play and our work and our creativity. That's all great. You have to provide the stimulus for players getting into each game and providing the story that hopefully can allow them to push on.

That's a constant for the manager. You can never lay off that. So that is something that clearly a lot of thinking time goes into.

When you get to a few games a week, is it survival of the fittest? You're maybe more accustomed to that than some other teams are. Is it just mental and physical endurance?

I think consistency is always the challenge. Especially when you're playing so often. At clubs like ourselves, it always is a challenge because you have to perform. A draw is no good. The attitude here is always to win and win well. There's clearly a big demand on the physical side of that and mental.

Like you say, we've got players that are accustomed to it, players that will be new to it. That's our job to help them and bring them through and support them. And like I said, sometimes to come out of the team, to recover mentally and physically, but to be ready to go again in the next game. That’s the careful management of it.

In 2016, you had your seven secret targets. Is that something you would use again or a different time?

That was obviously a goal setting process that we had in place back then. I think now we're pretty clear on that. It's probably more individual work with players and individual targets for them.

What's very important is improving the individual player. But no specific tricks.

I think you're tracking, this season, ahead of where you were in that 2016/17 season which shows you the start you’ve had.

I think the consistency and the level of the team has been really high. Again, that's great. It was a long time ago, that sort of season. You learn, even as a coach and manager, from all those experiences.

But this group of players will be writing their own history. That group then were absolutely brilliant for me. And now the challenge for this group is creating more historical moments as we go along. What is always important, like I said, is how we play. And that obviously took a bit of time to get going last year and get us working.

Over the last number of months, really, the consistency and the level has been a really high level. So, we just have to keep that going. We're strong defensively and that creates a great platform for all the attacking play.

In terms of improvement, do you expect to do much in January? In terms of bringing in more or are you quite satisfied with where you're at?

We’re definitely looking. There are still areas that I would like to improve in the squad. Absolutely no question about that. We can't do everything in the summer one.

We've done a lot of great work there. But there's definitely one or two areas just to, again, give that freshness to the squad as well and give that quality. So, it's important that we keep building.

All the players will learn, develop, they'll get better. But you need to always provide competition and that's something I'll always look at.

You were just talking about the team writing their own history. The team are undefeated, you’ve got the cup final coming up. And given that you're doing so well in Europe as well, do you feel that there is an opportunity for you and your squad to have their best ever season?

It's still such a long way to go. But what we've done is we've made a brilliant start. It only takes something to go against you, a sending off or a bit of bad luck, whatever. But there's no doubt, I think the first steps on the journey are always the most important. To get to the very top, you've got to make those initial first steps well. The players have done that really, really well.

They haven’t had everything their own way. I think the mark of this team was how we came back from the Dortmund game. The response to that. The response to a huge setback.

That's when you see your players and that's when you see your captain. That tells you everything about this team. About how they've been able to bounce back from that. That tells you that the spirit in the squad is very strong. And it's only going to grow and get better each week.

There’s a report this morning that Luis Palma is apparently attracting interest from America, how do you view his position in your squad?

I haven’t seen anything on that but there's nothing really to comment on it. Luis hasn't played a great deal of late. He’s still a part of the squad. There's nothing else more. He's a good guy. It's been difficult for him.

Players have come into his position where he's played and done really well. If you look at the goal return of Daizen this year, the pressing and all this side of it.

He was out for a few weeks injured then Yang comes in and does really, really well. But he's working hard every day. He's a good guy. He's well liked within the squad. But of course, I can only pick a certain amount of players. But he will continue to work and may get the opportunity as we go along.