Rodgers signs for Latics

Rodgers signs for Latics

Published Jul. 12, 2013 9:15 a.m. ET

Ross County manager Derek Adams expects his side to be even more attacking this season as he looks to build on last term's heroics.

County confounded friend and foe alike by claiming a highly impressive fifth-placed finish in their debut SPL campaign, and have recruited half a dozen new faces on the back of that success.

Ben Gordon - who previously had a spell at Kilmarnock - and former Motherwell defender Steven Saunders have both moved to Ross-shire, along with Marc Klok, Melvin de Leeuw, Kevin Luckassen and Darren Maatsen.

"We'll probably play a wee bit different from last season, having taken in six new signings," said Adams.

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"We've got different flair players to last season. We probably didn't have that until Ivan Sproule arrived in January, he was direct.

"We've good attacking options with Maatsen and De Leeuw. Klok is a midfield player and Luckassen a striker.

"Maatsen, Luckassen and De Leeuw are very direct and I think that'll be a good change.

"The Dutch boys have given us options. They're young, they're enthusiastic as well.

"We've got Ben Gordon, who has moved in at left-back, and we've got Steven Saunders, who can play right-hand-side, centre-half or right-back.

"All of them have moved in and it looks like they've been here for a while. They've all given us something different."

Adams is confident of replicating last season's efforts but accepts that there will be fresh challenges to face this time round, and they open their campaign away against the champions Celtic.

"It's great to be involved in the opening game in front of the Sky Sports cameras, a big occasion with the flag being unfurled. We did very well against them (Celtic) last season, so you never know we could surprise them.

"We know what the SPL's about now," he added. "I think next season we'll see big changes in a lot of teams because there's a lot of players that have left.

"We'd just like to finish as high as we possibly can. We were delighted with the campaign last year and we just want to continue that."

The 20-year-old midfielder will also have the option of staying a further year at Boundary Park after he impressed manager Lee Johnson in a pre-season friendly against Dinamo Bucharest.

The former Chelsea trainee, who is the son of Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, spent time on loan at Exeter last season and becomes the Latics' seventh summer signing.

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