Sean Dyche's key lesson that Motherwell boss is taking into Celtic clash as he draws up familiar plan

Stuart Kettlewell was full of admiration for Celtic’s midweek Champions League performance during the goalless draw with Atalanta - but insists his Motherwell side have been busy preparing as they normally would for a clash against Brendan Rodgers’ men.

The Steelmen are aiming to bounce back from a surprise defeat at home to Dundee last weekend when they host the Hoops at Fir Park on Sunday afternoon. Despite their wretched record against the Scottish champions over the years, Kettlewell was keen to stress that performances have been much-improved against Rodgers’ side so far during his tenure.

Motherwell have picked up two draws from their previous four meetings against Celtic, with both of those points gained on visits to Parkhead. They were on the receiving end of a 3-1 defeat last time out in February, but were only undone by two late goals in stoppage time.

Kettlewell reckons there is plenty of for encouragement to draw on looking back over recent head-to-heads and while he acknowledged they won’t have much possession during the game, he recalled how former Burnley and current Everton boss Sean Dyche would famously prepare his squad ahead of big games against some English Premier League heavyweights such as Manchester City.

“You say poor record, but when you look at the calibre of the opposition and the gulf at times between both clubs, I would say certainly in my time it’s been incredibly competitive,” Kettlewell responded when asked about Motherwell’s record against Celtic and how he will approach the game. “We managed to pick up a couple of draws at Celtic Park in the last two visits and I think we were done here last season in really competitive games where we created a number of chances and were well in the mix.

“I think in both games, injury time goals were our undoing. So I probably look at that more than, I don’t know how many games you’re going back, but I would imagine the record doesn’t look great as such. But I just look at what it’s been like in those four games during my tenure and it’s been pretty competitive, it has been close. We’ve let Celtic know that we’ve been in a game of football. That doesn’t guarantee that that’s going to be the case this week, but I just think there has to be a balance.

“You have to carry a threat, there’s no doubt about that. We all speak about it, at times being starved of the ball. I saw something, I think it was Sean Dyche years ago speaking about how you actually prepare for one of these games and he spoke an awful lot about playing against Man City and why you would train with the ball for sort of 80 percent of your training session. At times, you have to prepare without it because it makes it realistic, as much as we’d like that number to be closer.

“But the first place you have to start is having that defensive stability, which I think we’ve had a lot of against Celtic. You referenced the European game the other night, I thought they were fantastic on that front. Celtic were excellent against, in my opinion, one of Europe’s top sides and I thought you saw a completely different side to their game.

“But you know they’ve got threat across every area of the pitch, you need to prepare for that. But I stress it again, I have to try and make sure that the players have that confidence and belief that when we have our spells on the ball that we attack their half of the pitch, that we do it with a structure, a plan and we do it with a confidence.”

Kettlewell confirmed he hasn’t altered the way his players have been working in training this week in an attempt to combat Celtic’s threat when quizzed specifically on whether he had done any extra work with the forward players at his disposal. Outlining the league leaders strengths, the 40-year-old believes Celtic displayed a side to their game during the stalemate in Italy on Wednesday night that many clubs in Scotland are unlikely to have seen before.

He added: “I’ll obviously not give you everything but I can tell you that we’ve worked exactly the same as we have done over the last four games when we’ve played against Celtic. The reason why I think we can do that is because they’re so definitive in how they play. I speak about the unpredictability of what you face at times and it’s not being disrespectful. Some weeks we’ll not quite 100 per cent understand whether it’s going to be wholesale changes to the tea, whether they’re going to slightly alter and change their style of play.

“But I think you know over the last number of years, even through two different managers with Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers, you understand how Celtic are going to play. That doesn’t make it easy, that doesn’t mean to say we know every bit about it and we can execute our game plan. You understand that they want to dominate the ball and have got an unbelievable threat in the wider areas. You understand that they control the ball in the middle of the pitch through the likes of Callum McGregor and you understand that they’ve got a real potency in their attack.

“I think the one side that we really saw from Celtic the other night was those defensive qualities, not just from the goalkeeper and his backline but as a team. How resolute they were, the threat that they still carried, they energy that they have in their team is a joy to watch at times. So I’m perfectly aware of all these factors but again I’ll reference back to how I prepare for this week in a very similar fashion as to what I have done based on four times previously with Motherwell.”