Brendan Rodgers has emphasised that Celtic’s clash at Tynecastle this weekend will be an early indicator of his team’s mentality…
Following Thursday’s 2-1 Europa League victory against SK Sturm Graz, the Celtic boss feels his squad now approaches the top of the table encounter with greater mental and physical sharpness.
The victory over SK Sturm Graz offered a much-needed boost after a challenging spell in the league that has seen Celtic fall five points adrift of leaders Hearts.
With Cameron Carter-Vickers out for between three to five months after suffering an Achilles injury and a number of players still regaining fitness, Rodgers is calling on his team to maintain the energy and drive they showed in Europe on Thursday night when they face Hearts on Sunday.
Celtic have experienced varying fortunes at Tynecastle in recent years, and Rodgers is well aware of the intimidating environment that awaits in Gorgie, especially given Derek McInnes’ side can go eight clear of the Scottish champions with a win.
However, Rodgers believes that his squad are relishing the occasion and beginning to regain their fluency after an inconsistent run of performances both domestically and in Europe.
🍀 “Going to Tynecastle at whatever time of the season is always a tough game…”
Brendan Rodgers says Celtic are in a “much better place” ahead of Sunday’s clash with Premiership leaders Hearts, live on Sky Sports from 11am ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/XJu0aPVHQc
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 24, 2025
Speaking via Sky Sports, the Irishman said: “Clearly it’s a big game, but I always tend to say that they are big games. People talk about pressure games and big games — every time you play for Celtic, it’s a big game.”
“Going to Tynecastle at whatever time of the season is always a tough game, but we arrive in there in a much better place. This group doesn’t find itself as the chaser very often… Not so early in the season.”
Rodgers added: “Thankfully, as I said, it’s a long season. Hearts have started well, doing the basics of the game well. We’ve got a manager in Derek who knows his way around Scottish football and gets his teams well organised and well prepared. There’s no challenging phases as we just need to be better within ourselves.“
COYBIG.
Conor Spence
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Finally getting that victory in a big match this calendar year, off our back on Thursday, was a massive relief and much needed.
The challenge now is to start building up a run of consistency in both performance and result levels.
Another thing that has been missing for ourselves, for way to long also imo.
Getting the unity back into the club, especially upon the pitch was massive for ourselves. Especially as it will be tested hugely over the next few weeks, with the injury setbacks occurred.
Having a strong team spirit will be vital for ourselves over this period, and great signs on Thursday with the character shown from our team throughout the game.
We may have been carrying a few passengers at times within our start of the season, that time is finished now, as we are under extra pressure now, where we can’t afford to carry passengers within our team any longer imo.
Despite the injury setbacks, still believe that there is enough quality to overcome this challenging run of matches?
Tomorrow is a fantastic opportunity to show just how quickly things can change within the footballing world.
Hopefully for ourselves it will be a complete turnaround in a space of a week.
Still remain confident that we are more than capable of achieving the likes for ourselves, despite the time factor in waiting for the likes to actually happen.