ALTHOUGH some of the football hasn’t been scintillating at times this season, I would go along with Brendan Rodgers’s assertion that a treble for Celtic would be a bigger achievement this year than last.

They might not do it in the same style, but it would be an incredible feat.

Most of the teams in the Premiership have got a little better. You look at what Craig Levein has done at Hearts and Steve Clarke has done at Kilmarnock – the two teams to beat Celtic this season – and it’s self-evident that the standard has gone up.

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Hibs under Neil Lennon have come to Celtic and got draws, Dundee and St Johnstone too, and these things weren’t happening last year.

This season has been more of a test, and teams are starting to believe they can cause problems for Celtic again.

The issue for me is that the expectation levels are through the roof. It was the same for Wales after playing at the Euros, everyone back home now expects Wales to qualify for every major tournament. Well, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t happen like that.

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Celtic have lost a couple of games, but if they can get over the line by getting past Rangers at the weekend and then win the final, then I can see why Brendan would feel it was the bigger achievement.

The expectations were a lot lower last season, and with teams getting better, I would agree that a double treble would top the lot.