Leighton Clarkson knows it's an uphill battle facing Celtic but wants his team to channel something new to stun them
19:00, 15 May 2025
Leighton Clarkson after Aberdeen's defeat to Celtic(Image: SNS Group)
Leighton Clarkson knows that Aberdeen desperately need to come up with something different if they are to shock Celtic in the Scottish Cup final.
The Dons were left hurting after Brendan Rodgers’ side put out a second string and they savagely fired five past them in their final game of the season at Pittodrie.
It was hardly ideal preparation for the cup final a week on Saturday, when the Dons will be in the firing line again, as Rodgers will bring back his big guns for Hampden to try and blast the Hoops to another treble.
Clarkson acknowledged: “Of course, they are champions for a reason, they're so clinical, and they can blow you away.
“We know we've got one more game against them and we might have to do a bit of something different to get a result. We know it's a cup final.
“Again, probably a different ball game, a one-off game where we know what's up for grabs. It’s something that we're still looking forward to.
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“Again, it's something that we'll look at and I don't think we'll be telling you how we're going to play, but yeah, maybe on Wednesday we got maybe one or two things wrong.
“As I said, the first half I thought our shape was really good.
“We felt pretty comfortable, but they can punish you off a few chances and it's about limiting them to as few chances as possible.”
The only silver lining this week is that Aberdeen have already secured their place back in Europe for next season.
They are guaranteed top five but if they avoid defeat at Dundee United on Sunday then they will finish fourth and go into the second qualifying round of the Europa League. Aberdeen also have the added incentive of being guaranteed group stage football if they were to lift the Scottish Cup.
“I think fourth is still a decent season,” the former Liverpool youngster insisted.
“I think Hibs fully deserve third, in my opinion.
“Since the turnaround against us, they've been really, really good and consistent. So, yeah, congrats to them, but we want to be finishing fourth.
“We don't want to be finishing fifth.
Aberdeen's Leighton Clarkson celebrates after scoring to make it 1-0
“I don't think we've been consistent enough, in all honesty.
“We want to get fourth. The teams around us have done really well. Dundee (United) have done well to be in and around it.
“Hibs have obviously got third and they've been consistent enough. We know it's a one-off game against Dundee (United). We know what we're going down there to do.
“We'll rest, recover and take these two days and then obviously go down there and try to win the game.”
Clarkson has insisted that any further talk of Hampden has to be shelved until after Tannadice.
He stated:“ First of all, our full focus is on Dundee (United). We know what we need to do there. So, yes, from now until Dundee United, that's all we're worried about.
“Then we've got a week to prepare for the Celtic. But what I would say is we need to tighten up massively against Celtic and we need to find maybe a different way of beating them.”
Aberdeen’s old Achilles Heel of conceding too many goals has been exposed again in the last two outings. They have lost nine goals to Celtic and Rangers.
The Dons star acknowledged: “That's nine in two games, so we definitely need to work on that side of it.
“Yes, (it was) really sore. It wasn't nice to be out there, I must admit.
“I thought we were doing alright in the first half and then, you know, you can't concede off a corner.
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“Then we managed to get ourselves back in it and we're thinking, right, we'll get to half-time and they sucker punched us, right on half-time, which is one of the worst times to concede.
“It was still upbeat in the changing room, we thought we could rock them.
“We came out and I thought we did for the first two, three minutes, had a few corners, or chances. They've gone down the other end and punished us, and that's the story of Celtic, really.”