Director Brendan Rodgers says his Celtic players are ravenous to win the Scottish Premiership “in the best way possible” in the wake of moving nine focuses clear.
Tom Rogic’s first half-volley at Aberdeen ended up being the victor as the champions weathered a late Dons whirlwind.
They have won nine and drawn one of their initial 10 diversions – their best begin to an alliance season since 2004.
“It was an outstanding result for us. The players are very hungry to succeed,” Rodgers told.
“The club has won the league for the last five seasons and we want to win it again this year.
“But it is not just about winning it, it is winning it the best way we possibly can, scoring as many goals as we can, and defending as a collective.
“We have set goals and targets that are not just about winning, but about performances. The performances in the first 10 league games have been outstanding.
“It is only a start. We are not even a third of the way into the season. But if we keep this momentum going and keep working, then we are setting a standard that we can keep building on.”
Celtic may have won significantly more easily yet missed about six great shots, allowing Aberdeen to dispatch a late surge.
Rodgers thought his players “were outstanding in standing up to that”, and shield Erik Sviatchenko likewise savored the chance to demonstrate an alternate side to their amusement.
“It was a tough game. Aberdeen did all they could to beat us and tried to bully us, but I think we showed that we can also play a physical game,” the Dane told.
“Some games we can play our game and score a lot of goals, but it is also really important to win these type of 1-0 games and keep a clean sheet.
“We know they are a good team when they are smashing the ball up to big guys like [Adam] Rooney, which caused us a few problems. But I think we were the better team.
“It is difficult to catch us because we are doing well but we just have to look at ourselves and try to improve in every game. If we continue to show our skills, we will be tough to beat.”
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes protected his choice to leave striker Rooney and midfielder James Maddison on the seat until the second half, demanding his fourth-put side are not scared by Celtic’s apparently relentless title charge.
“We can beat Celtic and I think today showed that. They will know that for the [League] Cup final next month.”
