People were doubting us.. not any more
Ntcham: Hearts win hammered home our class
CELTIC’S squad has been battered, bruised down to the bare bones and beaten in Europe.
Questions were being asked but Olivier Ntcham insists the Hoops didn’t just come up with answers, they also sent out a powerful message – Celtic are still Scotland’s untouchables.
Edinburgh on Sunday was meant to be an open door for rivals. Top-of-the-table Hearts have been in sensational form while the Hoops treatment room is bursting at the seams.
There’s an endless list of calf and hamstring strains but the wounded Parkhead men were still able to flex their muscles at Murrayfield.
And Ntcham reckons challengers should take note in the wake of their 3-0 win.
The French midfielder said: “Everyone is close to us but it’s always good to show our quality and determination.
“When we are at our best, though, I don’t think there is anyone here who can beat us.
“It was important for us to show we could win without Scott Brown but he is with us, he is a major player for us.
“The best team won on Sunday so I am happy for the team and happy to be in the Final again.
“We responded positively when questions were asked and we do that as a team because we are all together.
“We win like that and are also together when we lose.
“It was very important to beat Hearts because we play them again on Saturday and this was a good message for us to send out to them.
“This will put a lot of doubts in their minds because, when you lose 3-0, next week they are not likely to play like they were playing before this game.
“We could have scored even more goals but we are improving and it was a positive message when you think of all the players we were missing.
“It’s always nice to win like this. The first half was difficult for us but we showed our quality in the end.
“Hearts beat us at the beginning of the season and that was our motivation. This was a good game in which to show them we are the champions.”
Hearts got the message loud and clear. It would have been heard elsewhere too.
Celtic have a handy habit of turning it on in big domestic games regardless of hits taken in continental competition.
Ntcham, who limped off on Sunday to join the barely walking wounded, said: “The key to that is simply just to keep going. When we lose we have to go out and become winners again. You have to look forward because we have so many games to play that if we start looking back we will be in trouble.”
Ntcham didn’t sound like a man with his eye on the exit.
There was talk in the summer of a big-money move to Porto but the ex-Manchester City man is only thinking about progress as a player and for the Parkhead club.
He said: “I just concentrate on my football.
“It’s my agent’s job to deal with all the talk about transfers while I just focus on my job.
“I am happy here and I am getting better as a player with every game.” The 22-year-old will need to take a back seat at Dundee tomorrow, though, after his hamstring went.
He said: “I hope to be fit in time for the weekend but I don’t know.
“I am quite happy with how I have begun this season and I want to come back quickly.”
Ntcham will have plenty of company in the Lennoxtown medical department.
Brown, Leigh Griffiths, Jozo Simunovic, Eboue Kouassi, Youssouf Mulumbu, Cristian Gamboa and Nir Bitton are all patients.
And Odsonne Edouard, Tom Rogic plus Filip Benkovic are receiving running repairs after a hectic start to the season. Kristoffer Ajer made a shock return at Murrayfield after making way 33 minutes into the quarter-final win over St Johnstone a month earlier.
And the Norwegian said: “It was good to finally get out of the treatment room – it is getting quite crowded!
“The physios at this club do a fantastic job and I have to thank them a lot because it was a proper hamstring strain I had. So to get me back in four weeks is a great job by them.
“Training every morning and leaving late every day, that’s the only way to get fit.
“It was a great feeling to finally play again. There were long days at Lennoxtown but it really paid off, being able to come back so early.” And Ajer reckons Celtic’s strength in depth is what will keep rivals at bay over the next few weeks.
He said: “We have a lot of players missing but you see how many good players we have, guys who can take their chance. Look at Ryan Christie coming on and doing fantastically against Hearts. I’m so happy for him, he is a great talent.
“That’s one of our big strengths in the squad. We train hard – so hard – every day.
“The manager and the staff put on great sessions to make sure everyone is fit and ready to come on. I had no doubts Ryan would come on and do a great job. It’s a really good squad.”
This was a good game in which to show them we are the champions OLIVIER NTCHAM ON BEATING HEARTS 3-0