Celtic told to get ugly or else as physical approach branded the route to dream title scenario
An iconic Hoops gaffer has urged his old side to be more aggressive on the pitch in their title charge.
Former Celtic and Middlesbrough manager, Gordon Strachan believes if The Hoops are to become champions this season, they’ll have to find a way of winning ugly.
After two disastrous results in a row in the first leg of their Europe League knockout tie with Stuttgart and their home league defeat to Hibs, less than a fortnight ago, Celtic’s season had a chance of capitulating. However a 1-0 away win in Germany and a tenacious second half comeback against Rangers can now give Martin O’Neill’s side something to build on.
During the Old Firm in particular, Celtic showed a lot more fight and desire than fans have been accustomed to seeing over the past few months. Whether it be their refusal to wave the white flag when 2-0 down or their gritty determination in each individual duel, the steely second half Hoops performance showed that the champions aren’t willing to give up their crown any time soon.
Celtic need to learn to win ‘ugly’ - Strachan
Strachan believes Rangers had the better of Celtic in the first half, not only in terms of the scoreline but also in regards to the physical battle. The former Scotland National Team gaffer believes if The Hoops have any title ambitions, they’ll have to replicate their second half performance against Rangers for a full 90 minutes.
He said: “Celtic have to play at their absolute best to avoid dropping down the table anymore – there can’t be any in-between now. They need to decide how they’re going to play for the rest of the season. They came up against a very physical Rangers side yesterday and were bullied for most of it, but we saw glimpses in the second half of what they can do. They need to continue performing the way they did in the second half.”
“The players need to be braver and understand that to get back into games, they need to do the ugly things like winning knockdowns and being more physical off the ball, otherwise the final few games of the season could turn out quite badly for them.”
O’Neill on post-match handbags
Speaking of the physical battle, it wouldn’t be an Old Firm derby without some pushing and shoving after the final whistle. Mikey Moore and Julian Araujo appeared to be exchanging words before players from both sides got involved in a shoving match.
O’Neill, who ran over himself to diffuse the situation gave his take on the full time whitsle shenanigans in his post-match interview. He joked: “I went over to it, me at my age! I’ve managed the team when it was proper ‘having a go’. This was feeble! Really feeble.
“Somebody holding somebody’s shirt. They should watch a couple of rugby league games, then they will find out. Feeble, on both sides. The only reason I went into it was I didn’t want someone to say something or bite back. I didn’t want any after-match sending-offs.”