Brendan Rodgers has conquered Scottish football many times over. An Invincible season, back-to-back Trebles, a Double… and an astonishing 10 trophies to his name.
His record is up there with the greats. Just ask Rangers. The Celtic boss has absolutely dominated the Glasgow derby across his two spells at the club, masterminding 16 wins, three draws and just one defeat in his 20 games in charge. No manager in the history of the Old Firm rivalry boasts a better win record.
It’s not only Rangers, though. Rodgers shattered Aberdeen’s dreams of lifting silverware in several domestic finals during his first stint in Glasgow, and he’s had the upper hand over every other Scottish club he’s faced. Yet despite being ranked among the SPFL’s biggest sides, Rodgers has incredibly never come up against Dundee United in his managerial career.
The Northern Irishman has bossed 244 games for Celtic but Sunday’s trip to Tannadice will be the first time he’s been in the opposite dugout of a United manager. Of course, Rodgers has visited Sandeman Street by taking on Dundee at Dens Park over the years but this is the first season that yoyo club United have been in the top-flight during Rodgers’ time at the helm.
Tangerines boss Jim Goodwin knows he has a massive job on his hands to inflict pain on the unbeaten league leaders this weekend. He said: “It’ll be a full house and it’ll obviously be the last game before Christmas so we don’t want to ruin anybody’s festive period so fingers crossed.
“We haven’t played them yet and we’ve got to play them twice in a number of weeks. We’re hoping to obviously deny them space and to try and have a good defensive shape about ourselves. We can’t make the same mistakes we made last Saturday (against Motherwell) or we’ll get punished again but at the same time then you’ve got to try and come up with a plan offensively where we think we can cause them one or two problems as well.
“It’s trying to get the balance right when you’re playing against such a good opponent that you can’t leave yourself wide open and get punished because of the space but you’ve also got to try and impose yourself on the opposition as well.”
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