WORSE THAN CLUJ
Forrest feels empty knowing his Euro adventure is over for another season
Cluj was bad. Copenhagen was worse.
James For rest felt the sear ing disappointment of a second straight Champions League failure back in August cut him to the quick.
But he admits it was still easier to stomach than the end of the Euro road on Thursday night.
The only solace he’s taking is that Celtic have bounced back before.
And the winger knows that’s exactly what they’ll do again with 13 domestic games remaining in which they can add the gloss of another layer of immortality to their CV.
A win over St Johnstone this afternoon will take them back to Hampden with the heft of 34 straight knockout wins at their back.
And with a 12-point lead and 20-goal cushion in the league, chances are it won’t even take the 10 Premier games they have left to reach a vaunted nine-in-a-row.
However, Forrest knows it will need the best of their resilience not to let the train come off the tracks in the hours and weeks ahead after their spirits were crushed by Copenhagen.
The Hoops blew it on their home turf on Thursday night, their Europa League journey ending in a 3-1 defeat.
Forrest had a chance to open the scoring – but it was a defensive collapse that led to the 4-2 aggregate defeat.
The 28-year- old sighed and said: “I think this is worse than Cluj.
“At least after that game we knew we still had another game to make sure we were still in Europe.
“And we knew that at least in the Europa League you get big ties, which we ended up with in the group.
“But now that’s us out, so it’s worse.
“We’ve always bounced back from results like this though.
“It’s a hard one to take but the last couple of years, and this season as well, we’ve had some setbacks but managed to kick on, pick ourselves up and produce some good performances.
“That’s what is called for again and hopefully we can do that.”
The omens are good for Forrest and his team-mates today.
They’ve won on their last seven visits to McDiarmid Park and the Scotland star has scored six in that run, including a four-goal haul in a 6- 0 win.
And with a 33-game winning streak in cup ties at their back – with only one of them even going to extra-time – he insists the Hoops have no intention of letting that slide.
He said: “I’m just hoping to contribute and help the team again up there.
“St Johnstone got a good 2-2 draw against Rangers last week so we know it’s going to be a difficult game.
“It’s a cup tie as well so we have to pick ourselves up from the Copenhagen game and be ready for it.
“We need to make sure we turn up – we know what Saints can do when they play well.
“They took points off Rangers and that will be in the back of our heads. But this Cup run has been unbelievable.
“None of the boys or the staff wants it to stop. We want to keep going and make sure we get to Hampden again – that starts here.”
Celtic boss Neil Lennon is certain to face a stern examination of his set-up this afternoon after switching a system t h at ha s
been
working for them. Their 3- 5-2, with Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths up front, was swapped back to the supposedly safe haven of a 4-2-3-1 – and it cost them.
However, the manager defended his decision and insists no system can legislate for the individual howlers that cost them so dear against the Danes.
Lennon said: “I don’t know how you can blame the formation on individual errors. We were in total control of the game.
“The opposition defended heroically at times and their keeper made some really good saves.
“We got back into the game deservedly but then, 83 seconds later, we’ve conceded a goal. It was really hard to take.
“Obviously if you’re going to make mistakes like we did then you’re going to get punished.
“We only have ourselves to blame. We let ourselves down on the game management. It was unnecessary. The third goal was academic. The second goal was the one that won Copenhagen the tie.
“But I’ll do everything I can to pick up my players. Does it add pressure on the players to win t he St Johnstone game? I don’t know. Maybe. I haven’t really thought about that.
“The team was right. But when you give goals away in the manner that we did then we give oxygen to the opposition and give them something to hold on to.
“We had to concentrate and manage the game but we didn’t do that anywhere near as well as I expected them to.”
Asked if the players were apprehensive about losing rather than focused on winning, Forrest insisted: “No, I think all the boys were feeling positive, which makes us feel all the more gutted for the fans that we couldn’t take a positive away result and turn it in to a win at home.”
The team was right but when you give goals away, you give oxygen to the opposition