Paul Hartley urges positive approach against Celtic
Dundee manager Paul Hartley has urged his players to express themselves in Tuesday's rearranged Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership match with Celtic at Dens Park.
The Dark Blues welcome Ronny Deila's men to Tayside and are buoyed by the manner in which they defeated Ross County 5-2 at the weekend.
Hartley's hopefuls moved back into the top-six on goal difference after overcoming County in some style and their boss wants them to maintain a similar attack-minded approach when the champions visit Tayside.
Hartley said: "We can approach it with confidence.
"There were some very good aspects to our play in the win over County at the weekend and that should give us encouragement.
"We play in a certain way and want to do likewise against Celtic. We will set up to have a go and see what happens.
"Hopefully we can cause them a few problems like we did County.
"We know we have the players to do well going forward with the likes of Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart in good form.
"Celtic obviously have quality within their ranks but we'll concentrate on what we're good at.
"That's what we always do and we'll attempt to get a positive result."
Dundee face Celtic before travelling to face Hamilton on Saturday as they chase a top-six place and the Tayside club know the importance of this coming week.
Hartley said: "It's a big week. We are back in the top six which is where we want to be.
"We have two important games and will need to use our whole squad for both.
"We can only take one at a time though so Celtic have our full focus. We can't look too much further forward than that."
Dundee welcome back goalkeeper Scott Bain and midfielder Gary Harkins from suspension.
But Paul McGinn, Nicky Low and Kostadin Gadzhalov are all still out injured and long-term absentee James McPake (knee) remains on the sidelines.
John Collins has urged Patrick Roberts to aim for Lionel Messi standards at Celtic.
In only his second start for Ronny Deila's side since arriving on an 18-month loan deal from Manchester City at the end of January, the 19-year-old grabbed a double in the 3-1 home Ladbrokes Premiership win over Hearts on Saturday.
It was the first senior goals scored by the former Fulham player, whose move to City last summer was for a reported fee of B#11million.
Ahead of the trip to Dundee on Tuesday night, where the Parkhead men can go back seven points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the table, the Hoops assistant manager was loath to make direct comparisons with the Barcelona superstar but insists Roberts should be striving to make the same contribution as Messi.
He said: "I don't like comparing him to the best player in the world, which in my opinion is Messi.
"But you can see where people get the resemblances.
"He is left-footed. He likes to take people on and if he ends up half as good as Messi then he has done well."
The former Celtic and Scotland midfielder is looking for the league leaders to find their top form in the run-in.
He said: "We want to play better and better. Can we keep improving? Can we score more goals? Can we keep clean sheets. Football is about winning and entertaining."
Tom Rogic will be monitored ahead of the Dundee game.
The Australia midfielder had to be substituted with a head knock in the 3-1 win over Hearts on Saturday.
Defender Charlie Mulgrew (groin) and Stuart Armstrong (chest infection) are back in contention while centre-back Jozo Simunovic remains out with a knee injury.
Source: PAR
