We need to react to defeat — as we did last season
Brown seeks a repeat reaction after losing New Year’s derby last season
CELTIC’S players will decamp to Dubai in the New Year carrying with them an unwelcome sense deja vu.
Twelve months to the day after losing at Ibrox, allowing Rangers to draw level on points having played a game more, the Parkhead outfit suffered a home derby defeat that potentially places them in a more perilous position.
It is Steven Gerrard’s side who hold a game in hand entering the current winter break.
If they win that match — against Ross County at Ibrox on Wednesday, January 29 — and all else remains equal, Celtic will be knocked off the Premiership summit by a point.
Captain Scott Brown insists the training camp in the Gulf, which starts next weekend, will be a time for hard work and hard thinking.
Having come away with the trophy despite being outplayed in the Betfred Cup final at Hampden three weeks previously, Brown admits that yesterday’s merited 2-1 success for Rangers has set an Old Firm pattern that must be broken.
In that respect, the 34-year-old midfielder can draw belief from how Celtic responded to their setback a year ago.
They returned from their Dubai base to rack up 11 straight domestic victories, laying the foundations for an unprecedented treble Treble.
Fast-forward to the present and Brown knows it is precisely that kind of reaction which will be needed again.
‘We’re in the same situation we were in last year when we lost the game at Ibrox,’ said the Parkhead skipper.
‘It wasn’t our best performance today, we know that, but the main thing is that we’re still top of the league and we’ve had a great run so far.
‘Now, similar to last year, we have to make sure we bounce back after going to Dubai, coming back here fitter and stronger.
‘Rangers played quite well. They closed us down and we didn’t play as well as we could have.
‘We need to learn now, because that’s two games in a row where they’ve probably outplayed us.
‘It’s all about how we come back, because the last time this happened we went over to Dubai and it’s going to be similar to that for us.
‘The main thing was that we won the (Betfred) Cup final and we’re still top of the league.
‘They’ve got a game in hand, but we’re certainly not in too bad a place.
‘It’s the performances against Rangers that we need to make sure we improve on. For us, we know what we need to do.
‘We’ll have a few days off before meeting up in Dubai and we’ll figure out how we’re going to play against Rangers the next time.
‘We will bounce back. We’ve got a (Scottish Cup) game against Partick Thistle when we come back, and that’s going to be hard for us.
‘It was the exact same last year.
We have to make sure we come back with a great attitude and in a better place.’
Celtic manager Neil Lennon had called for his players to show real hunger as their bid to land a ninth successive title looks set to become an almighty battle.
Brown, for one, feels the squad will not be found wanting when they return.
‘The lads want to win trophies, everyone wants to win trophies, and we’ve done it for the last ten trophies on offer,’ he continued. ‘We need to play better and move the ball quicker. Today we didn’t create enough chances.
‘We had a couple of efforts cleared off the line which we were unlucky with, and we missed a penalty as well. These things happen and it’s now about how we bounce back.
‘They closed the middle of the park, as they always do when they play against us, and we couldn’t get our wingers into the game quickly enough.’
Rangers eased any Celtic nerves at the start of 2019 by losing their first post-winter-break
match against Kilmarnock. However, having dropped only seven points in this campaign to date, there is a far more convincing look about Gerrard’s team this time around.
‘It is always a challenge for us no matter who we play,’ argued Brown. ‘Everyone that we play wants to beat us.
‘We have a great record at home and today was the day we lost it.
‘We don’t like it, but we have to make sure that we start 2020 with a bang.
‘I think everyone will have this result in the back of their minds. We were sitting in that dressing room and everyone is devastated, so you have to make sure you remember how you felt after those defeats.
‘There haven’t been that many of those defeats, but sometimes you need that little kick to spark you into life again.
‘Everyone here has done that, everyone expects us to win no matter what, and that’s why I came here.
‘You want to win trophies and dominate games, and when it doesn’t happen you have to look back, reflect on it, see how we played and how they played.
‘You have to take it on the chin sometimes, because you’re not always going to play unbelievably well. It’s about our reaction as a team.’