Can Celtic do it on a wild Wednesday night at Pittodrie? As it turns out, yes, they can.
But given the torrential rain, swirling wind and the disciplined defensive showing from a committed Aberdeen outfit (not to mention their comfortable lead at the top of the Premiership), might they have been forgiven for settling for a point during the week?
Probably, at least from pundits and even perhaps from their fans. But according to Callum McGregor, the players would not have forgiven themselves.
The Celtic captain, who has done as much as anyone to instil the sort of desire they showed to get over the line at Pittodrie by hook or by crook, says that settling for a draw simply isn’t in the blood of either the team, or the club.
The eventual victory over Aberdeen extends Celtic’s lead at the top of the table to seven points, and even with this far to go in the season, it seems to have sounded the death knell for any hopes of a title race emerging this term.
The potential for slip ups seems remote, particularly when Brendan Rodgers’ men are adamant that they won’t settle for anything less than victory on the domestic scene, no matter how difficult the venue or how unforgiving the conditions.
“I don't think that's in our DNA at Celtic, at this club, where you have to win every game,” McGregor said.
“The way we played [on Wednesday], I think if you'd come away with a draw and never got the goal, then I think performance-wise you'd have been reasonably happy. But I think then straight away it's dropped points, everyone feels different about the game.
“So, it showed a really good mentality that even on a difficult night we can produce that level of quality to get us the win.
“And then obviously everyone feels great about themselves, and everything just keeps rolling on with that momentum.”
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McGregor has been around the block enough of course to know what to expect on such evenings in the northeast, but even he ranks it as among the worst conditions he has faced during his playing days.
Though in fairness, you didn’t have to be Wincey Willis to have an inkling that it might be a little on the blowy side.
“It was quite bad, aye, but it's December in Scotland,” he said.
“In terms of actually having to play in it, it's difficult, but the players handled it really well. I thought we showed a really good level technically and tactically in the game. I thought we were excellent.
“So, that's a huge plus for the players that even when you come up here, the wind's swirling, the rain and everything else, you can play the way you want to play and control the game in that sense as well.
“It was pretty bad. Especially the second half, the wind picked up a wee bit again. You could see the longer ones that they were playing would be a bit more difficult to read.
“To be fair, the defenders read it really well and covered each other and always expected the worst. It's the second half where you have to read the game properly and be in the right positions and the boys did that.
“Overall, I think a really impressive win in terms of the conditions and the way we played and the way we controlled the game.”
Celtic may have come through the choppy conditions at Pittodrie then, but in this period of seemingly unruffled passage for the champions towards another title, it is easy to forget that it wasn’t such smooth sailing for either them or their manager around this time last year.
The infamous booing of Santa at Celtic Park during the defeat to Hearts seems an awful long time ago now, but those memories are still fresh for McGregor, who is using them as a cautionary tale against getting too comfortable or complacent.
“I think we were probably seven or eight points clear last year and then ended up behind,” he said.
“So that shows you how quickly football can change and you have to learn from that experience as well.
“We understand it's a good start, of course it is, but the reason why it's been a good start is because of the way we're approaching the game, the way that we're training, the relentless nature of the coaches and the players.
“Everybody every day is giving their absolute all and I think in the squad, you can see that when the boys come into the team. When they drop out, they come back in, there's a hunger to do well and everything's in a good place.
“So, I think the only bit that we can control is that and then when we go to the pitch on a Saturday or a Wednesday or whatever day we're playing, then we try and get the maximum out of that matchday that we possibly can.
“We've ended up in a good position but we're not even halfway through yet, so we know there's so much football to be played.”
