Leighton Clarkson: Aberdeen need to find a Plan B against Celtic

Press and Journal

15-05-2025

Aberdeen midfielder Leighton Clarkson believes his side have to change their ways if they are to have any chance of Scottish Cup glory against Celtic next week.
The Dons are due to face Celtic in the final at Hampden on May 24, but will head for the National Stadium bristling from yet another bruising loss to the Hoops following Wednesday's 5-1 defeat at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen performed admirably in the first meeting of the sides in October, rallying from 2-0 down to earn a point at Celtic Park, but since then the Hoops have reeled off four straight wins against Jimmy Thelin's side.
Wednesday's defeat by a second-string Hoops side was a sobering reminder, not that it was needed, of the size of the task facing the Dons against the treble-chasing Hoops.
Consecutive 5-1 losses to Brendan Rodgers' side have left Clarkson convinced he and his team-mates need to come up with a different approach at Hampden.
The midfielder said: 'They are champions for a reason – they're so clinical, and they can blow you away.
'They've done this throughout the season.
'It's not just to us. They've done it to other teams as well because they can punish you. They're relentless.
'We need to find a way of stopping that.
'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.'
Having conceded 19 goals in five games to Celtic this season, it is not difficult to see where Aberdeen need to improve most.
The Hoops are clinical, but Clarkson knows the opportunities being offered up by his team are too many.
He said: 'We felt pretty comfortable in the game, but they can punish you off a few chances and it's about limiting them to as little as possible.
'It's something that we'll look at. 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.
'After Saturday we've got a week to prepare for the Celtic game, 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.
'We know it's a cup final – 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.'
Celtic's victory at Pittodrie not only served as a warning shot ahead of the cup final.
It also ended Aberdeen's hopes of finishing third in the Scottish Premiership.
That honour goes to Hibernian, who are four points clear heading into the final weekend of the league campaign.
Clarkson knows his side have not been good enough.
He said: 'I don't think we've been consistent enough, in all honesty.
'Hibs have obviously got third and they've been consistent enough.
'Hibs fully deserve third, in my opinion. Since the turnaround against us, they've been really, really good and consistent.
'So congrats to them – but we want to be finishing fourth which I think is still a decent season. We don't want to be finishing fifth.'
The equation for the Dons is simple as they head to European rivals Dundee United on Saturday for their last league game of the campaign.
If Jimmy Thelin's side avoid defeat to the Tangerines, they will be fourth and in the second qualifying round of the Europa League if they fail to win the Scottish Cup.
Lose, and it will be a fifth place finish – which means entry into the second qualifying round of the Conference League.
Clarkson said: 'The teams around us have done really well. Dundee United have done well to be in and around it.
'Our full focus is on United. We know what we need to do there, so from now until the game that's all we're worried about.
'We need a good performance, but we need to win the game, or obviously a draw is good enough, but we're going to win the game.
'Hopefully, we can do that and that sets us into a nice week up into the final.'