GORDON STRACHAN reckons top scorer Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is operating at only 80 per cent - but predicts the big Dutchman will hit top form very soon.

And that could spell big trouble for Shakhtar Donetsk tomorrow night.

Despite taking time to shift into top gear, Vennegoor's double against Inverness at the weekend took his tally for this season to five.

If he could add to that here in Ukraine, it would give Celtic a great chance of recording their first-ever away point on the road under Strachan.

And the manager is confident the hitman - who scored a terrific goal at Old Trafford in the opening Champions League game last term - will pose a major threat to Shakhtar.

Strachan said: "Jan is a big threat for us, a huge threat, in fact.

"But I think there is another 20per cent to come from him. In saying that, he has hit 100 per cent in terms of goals-per-game this season.

"I've maintained that bigger guys take longer to hit their peak. This was also Jan's first pre-season with us, so it has been a bit different for him.

"And he has got new partners again. At the moment, he has a good one in Scott McDonald."

Strachan is delighted but not surprised at how quickly the little-and-large partnership has gelled, explaining: "From the first pre-season session we had with Scott, we said he was going to do all right for us.

"The two of them hold the ball up well, and if you do that as a strike partnership then you will get more chances, not from the first phase of play, but from the second and third phases.

"And that's proving to be the case."

This combination is also providing scoring opportunities for others in the team, as the recent glut of goals underlines.

But Strachan reckons this is due reward for the attacking system they are adopting.

He said: "We've scored 15 goals in our last three league games - and I wouldn't say that everything we hit is going in.

"You can go through a period where it is the case that all your shots find the net. But, we are creating a lot of chances and taking a good percentage of them.

"At the weekend, Inverness had chances as well, as did St Mirren in the previous game.

"That's just the way we are playing at the moment. The games are open.

"I heard Andy Gray saying at the weekend that generally the team with the better players wins, and that is what is happening with us.

"We also have a top goalkeeper who helps us out, and defenders who say they are just going to block everything. But there is a variation to our play which I like because it makes it hard to defend against us."

Strachan knows this will be vital against against Shakhtar, a team for which he has a lot of respect.

"Tom O'Neill was at the game they won at the weekend, but we had already watched a few videos of them in action,"

he said.

STRACHAN was quick to point out this was no disrespect to Inverness: "It was just the case we did not have a lot of time before we headed off to Ukraine yesterday morning.

"Shakhtar are good. They have a real Brazilian feel to them, but with Russian solidity at the back.

"It's in the midfield, though, they have a Brazilian flow.

"They have a good pace to their play. It's like the two AC Milan full-backs, Odo and Jankulovski, in that they get forward and get their crosses in from deep inside our territory.

"So we know we have another hard game waiting."

Strachan is likely to deploy Moscow-type tactics to counter this threat, and that should mean a recall for Scotland hero Paul Hartley.

He confirmed: "This is game for experienced players, and that experience in Moscow has not done anyone who played there any harm."

The draw gained in Russia has bolstered Strachan's belief that this squad have the nous to get a result on the road.

They have now had time to bed in, but the manager has always been confident they were the real deal.

He said: "I am always the same, and to be fair I'm really confident going into every game because I know we have a liveliness about us.

"We also have an energy and a variation to our play which I really like.

"That says to me that if we don't score one way, we will maybe score another way."

Now all Celtic have to do is convert this confidence into a victory, and finally the Champions League away monkey will be off their back.

But it is not something which weighs heavily with the manager, who said philosophically: "It's the legacy here, in the same way that, on the positive side, we have a very good record at home.

"We like it when people praise us for that, so we have to accept the other bit when they go on about our away record."