Ambrose out to prove his critics wrong
Under-fire Ambrose is determined to stay put
CELTIC are no strangers to taking a calculated risk. An unheralded Norwegian is t he manager. The transfer policy i s to scout and acquire l ow- cost s i gnings f r om low-profile leagues and pitch t hem i nt o Champions League qualifiers.
It was a process which unveiled Efe Ambrose. Shortly after his own Parkhead arrival, however, Ronny Deila decided the Nigerian was taking the kind of on-field gambles Celtic could no longer tolerate.
‘Last season the gaffer told me I was taking too many risks in my games,’ admitted Ambrose with jovial acceptance. ‘They have tried to make me a different player.
‘I don’t do that anymore. I try to play simple and just defend. I think I am getting better and I work hard every day to do that.’
The evidence of improvement is not apparent to everybody.
Earlier this month, Celtic held a two-goal lead over Fenerbahce in a Europa League match at Parkhead. Ambrose, prone to inducing a state of collective seizure when he receives the ball, attempted a header back to Craig Gordon. What happened next was needless, familiar and predictable. The header fell short, the Turkish club were back in the game and went on to leave Glasgow with a valuable point.
‘ You take risks and you get punished sometimes,’ said Ambrose with great understatement. ‘People start to criticise you but, when you get away with it, people applaud you. That is life.
‘The most important thing is to be positive and work hard. My head is straight. I’m back from the international break and I have put the Fenerbahce game behind me.’
Whether Celtic’s management or support can do the same is another matter entirely.
An £850,000 signing from Ashdod in Israel, Ambrose has footballing talent. Yet the good in his game has been overshadowed by high-profile mistakes during his three years in Glasgow.
He returned from African Cup of Nations duty on the morning of a Champions League last-16 clash with Juventus in 2013 insisting he was fit to play. After gifting Alessandro Matri an early goal, he blew a golden chance to equalise before giving away possession for a Juve third in the dying minutes.
Before the return leg in Turin, he missed the bus to training because he was in a shower humming along loudly to gospel music.
Neil Lennon called him the ‘Rubber Man’ for his ability to bounce back from draining journeys. It might also have referred to his incredible ability to spring back from personal mishap.
While Lennon made allowances — Ambrose is an engaging, likeable figure — his replacement Deila sat down with the defender. The aim was to find out what, exactly, went through his head during the cataclysmic lapses.
‘ The first season after t he manager (Deila) came was difficult for me,’ said Ambrose. ‘But, when he sat down and spoke with me, I realised what he was trying to do.
‘Sometimes in the past I didn’t know what my mistake had been, but he had seen it and called me on it. He and my team-mates will help me, so that is a positive thing.
‘Once you try to learn, then you will play better. So now I need to play simple football and try to move the ball more quickly, because that is what the gaffer has said he wants me to do.
‘It’s good for me if I try to play less football and not take too many touches of the ball. The manager has helped me by telling me how he wants me to play.’
FOR all his faults, Celtic see genuine value in Ambrose. A £ 2million bid f r om Olympiacos was turned down last year. When Maccabi Tel Aviv enquired in the summer, they were also turned down.
Yet, the longer Ambrose stays in Glasgow, the more abuse he takes. He insists, however, that he will not be hounded out by his critics.
‘I never think about that because I always have belief in myself. The best way to fight criticism is to deal with it and stay strong.
‘You don’t run away from it — you face it and I have a manager who really believes in my ability.
‘In spite of everything, he has stood by me. When you have that — and your team-mates also support you — then it feels like home. So I really wanted to stay and prove the fans wrong.
‘It was good, after Fenerbahce, to hear the manager say he trusted me. He and John Kennedy have really helped me.
‘When you have a manager like that it means a lot. So what else can I do but give everything to this team?’
Determined to bounce back with one of his spectacular acrobatic goal celebrations against Motherwell today, Ambrose says he can sense a ‘big moment’ on the horizon.
I never run away from criticism. I use it to become stronger
‘You never know when Efe Ambrose is going to do his somersault,’ he said. ‘ When there is a game, when Celtic really need a goal… you never know. There will be a big moment.
‘I can never promise how many somersault moments there will be but I want to give something back and I know it is coming soon.
‘Yes, I have had criticism and you have to deal with it every day. Not just in football, but also in life. You are always going to have difficult times and it is how you come out of it that is important, how you stand up and face it.
‘ It can happen to me, i t can happen to anybody to find yourself in that situation. We have to stay together as a team and I am very happy the way the manager and other players stood up for me and did not criticise.’
After the Juve horror show, Kris Commons was less forgiving. But the exasperation felt by Ambrose’s team-mates is more concealed now.
‘Everybody will make mistakes. We try to stop it and look at ways to avoid it,’ said Ambrose.
‘If I had passed the ball to Craig (Gordon) against Fenerbahce and he had come out and caught it, nobody would speak about this. There was a lack of communication between us and nobody told me the striker was on me.
‘I have learned from this and put it behind me. We need to be a unit, be a block, and once we are I think we will be unstoppable.’
‘Unstoppable’ is a bold choice of word. There have been times this season when Celtic’s defence has been breached with alarming ease.
‘We have not reached the level we can get to,’ Ambrose admitted. ‘We have had some new players in but once the team is in its stride I think nobody will stop us.
‘We are still in four competitions — we can win the Treble or reach the latter stages of the Europa League.
‘There is a lot of talent and, if everyone plays to their best, then I don’t know how the manager can pick his team.’
Given his own ability to have managers reaching for the aspirin and generally feeling all manner of pain, there was i rony i n what Ambrose predicted next.
‘It will give him a headache. A good headache.’