Source: Team_Talk
Mowbray no fan of guessing games
Since taking over from Gordon Strachan in the summer, the Parkhead boss has bolstered his first-team squad with Landry N'Guemo, Marc-Antoine Fortune, Danny Fox, Josh Thompson while goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska arrived from Dundee United after having signed a pre-contract agreement with the Hoops.
At the other end of Glasgow, however, the champions have got rid of half a dozen players and with no new arrivals on the horizon, and no real expectations of fresh faces either, the Hoops are being tipped by many to bring the title back to Parkhead.
But Mowbray, who is preparing for the opening SPL game of the season against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday, is not for taking part in the prediction game.
"The so-called experts have an opinion and I respect them but the bottom line is that it will be won or lost on the football field," Mowbray said.
"Hopefully we have a striker who can score 30-plus goals and a defence that can keep clean sheets and Rangers will be hoping the same, and other teams as well.
"But I am not going to sit here and take any interest in what anybody else says about my team and I'm sure it doesn't influence any of my players."
Mowbray added: "It seems like it has been a long pre-season.
"We've been to Australia, Russia, Wales and England but we are looking forward to the start of the SPL season as I'm sure every team is at the moment.
"We have been playing some competitive games but now we are playing for points and league tables will be thrust in to our faces - probably on Sunday morning.
"The fixture list has thrown up some difficult fixtures at the
start, away to Aberdeen and Hibs, in between two difficult games against Arsenal.
"So it is a big ask for us but we look forward to it."
Mowbray is pinning a lot of his faith this season on his wide players, Shaun Maloney and Aiden McGeady.
"The blend is good," the former Hibernian and West Brom manager said.
"I'm almost blessed that we have two wide players with fantastic ability with the ball but yet have a fantastic work ethic.
"They don't stand with their hands on their hips, they are always chasing back and getting back into shape.
"They don't need encouraging, they do it naturally, so we have a good balance of work ethic and talent."
Maloney is hoping to repay the faith shown in him by Mowbray and show the Celtic fans what they were missing from him last season when he failed to shine.
"I'm not sure what the fans are expecting but I am expecting a lot more from myself this season," the Scotland midfielder said.
"I missed a lot of last season through injuries and so I want to improve and become an important player for the team.
"The manager puts a lot more onus on his wide players to get on the ball and create.
"At the same time whenever we lose it, it has been drummed into us that we need to get back into team shape.
"Hopefully there will be more flair but at the same time we don't want to be an easy touch going back the other way."
Celtic 4/6, Draw 5/2, Aberdeen 9/2
