Managers Post Celtic
Wednesday, 23rd Nov 201123/11/11: JM - "We have just got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot to give ourselves a chance to win games."
Jim McIntyre feared the worst after two mistakes put his team behind from early on in this match:-
"When you gift the goals that we did then it hammers the confidence a wee bit and after that it was wave after wave of attack and I was just desperate to get us in at two nil, to be honest.
"Celtic were giving us a bit of a run around and we were lucky to come in 2-0 down. What we said at half time is that if we could go and get the next goal then it could turn out to be quite a nervous affair for them. I told them to just to cut out the mistakes and do the basics well and keep having a go because you are here to have a go.
"Obviously they missed a penalty which was crucial from our point of view. That could have turned the game the other way but I was really pleased with the players in the second half. They gave it everything and showed great bravery. We tinkered with the system."
Having talked about 3-5-2 before the game but when that became a 4-4-2 it was a bit more successful although the gaffer called it slightly differently:-
"It was more a 4-1-3-2 with Mason sitting in the three in front. It was better second half. I was really disappointed with the first half showing but real pride in the second half and with the character that the players showed because it is easy to crumble when you come to places like this and you have a bit of a doing in the first half.
"They make mistakes and we have been severely punished at this level, we have found that out to our cost on numerous occasions. When we do the basics well we have won games. We need to grasp that.
"We got a wee bit of belief from the goal and big Forster had a great save from Liam Buchanan as well. Anytime you have a two goal lead and a team gets a goal back you put pressure on them. Especially when you come to their home ground; you can feel the fans get on their case. You are trying to take advantage of that but Celtic were the better team on the night and deserved to win on the balance of chances created. We have just got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot to give ourselves a chance to win games."
Celtic Manager Neil Lennon commented about his reaction to some criticism from supporters at the final whistle:-
"I was angry. They forget the first 80 odd minutes when we played some great attacking football. I can understand the frustration but we are in a title battle and we need all the support we can get at times.
"My annoyance is that the third goal should have been ours and we would have been comfortable winners in the end and everyone will probably talk about the fact that we were scrambling for the win which was ridiculous.
"People will talk about the last three or four minutes but we created loads of clear-cut chances and at one stage we could have been looking at another Aberdeen (9-0). The only disappointment I have is that we did not put the game away."
Lennon was disappointed with Celtic's fourth missed penalty out of four in this season's SPL:_
"I don't know how many we have missed in the last eight or nine, it could be six or seven, which obviously is a bit of a concern," he said.
"There was a wee bit of confusion because Ki didn't start on Saturday so Stokes was picked to take them. But Ki was back in the team and Stokes still wanted to take it. Ki took the last one so we felt comfortable with him taking it and for someone as technically gifted as him to miss the target was surprising. I don't know how you can address it, you can practise them but with the quality of strikers we have at the club and goal scorers, it shouldn't be a major issue."
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