Dundee boss Paul Hartley looking to frustrate rampant Celtic side

Dundee boss Paul Hartley admits his players will look to frustrate the life out of Celtic tomorrow.

The Dark Blues travel to the East End of Glasgow to try to halt what has been a Hoops juggernaut domestically this season.

Brendan Rodgers’ side have won all their home matches in the Premiership so far and are short-odds favourites to continue that run against Dundee.

However, Hartley and his players have been working hard all week on a game plan that they hope can help them cause a huge upset.

The manager said: “To an extent, the pressure is off our players, but we want to go there and put a good performance on.

“I think that’s the key thing for us.

“We want to be hard to beat and try to frustrate Celtic as much as we can.

“You could go there and press them and get picked off, or you could go and sit back and it’s a long day.

“We’ve got to find a way to try to win the game.

“We’ve worked on a few things this week to try to stop them playing.

“But when we get the ball it’s important we do well when in possession.

“There’s no point in getting the ball and giving it away again because it’s going to be a long day for you.

“The key thing for us is to keep possession long enough when we have it.”

Hartley admitted though that it has been difficult to prepare for every contingency as Celtic switch the systems they play.

He said: “You’re second-guessing sometimes about what they’re going to play.

“Even looking at the game the other night against Hamilton, it’s a system I’ve not really seen, compared to the one they used against Partick Thistle the week before.

“I think they have an outstanding manager and an outstanding team.

“As players, you should really just go there and enjoy it.

“Nobody expects too much from us and that’s true of most of the teams who go there. But we’ll hopefully put on a good performance.

“You’re never quite sure how they’re going to line up but the dynamics of the team are probably still the same.”

Hartley has previously spoken about possibly adding to his squad in January but only if other players currently at the club go out the door at Dens.

Now, he has revealed the positions he wants to strengthen.

Hartley said: “I think there will be scope to maybe get one or two players in.

“We have to balance that though with players going out.

“We definitely need another forward and maybe even a wide player.

“I don’t want to mention any names about players maybe going out. We’ll discuss that in the next few weeks. Players want to play games.

“We look at the squad and say,’Who has not been playing and who needs games?’. Then we can assess it from there.”

Mark O’Hara and Julen Etxabeguren return to the squad after injury but Paul McGowan is suspended and on-loan Celtic player Michael Duffy is ineligible.