Christie confident Celtic can cure their Rugby Park travel sickness
WITH consecutive domestic Trebles to their name and this season’s League Cup already in the bag, the last thing to trouble Celtic domestically is an inferiority complex. Back-to-back defeats at Rugby Park do, however, suggest that Brendan Rodgers’ team have a particular problem with travelling down the M77.
Defeat in Ayrshire earlier this season followed a similar reverse to Steve Clarke’s side in February of last year.
In a week where the issue of artificial surfaces has been brought raging to the surface by a PFA Scotland petition, there may well be some apprehension as the players’ boots step onto the synthetic surface just before 4pm kick-off time today.
Even in the wake of a 2-0 Europa League defeat to Valencia, Ryan Christie is determined not to let his mind be clouded by negativity.
The midfielder signed up to the entreaty but, if Celtic are to distance themselves from a title challenge, that dressingroom grievance must be put to one side.
‘Kilmarnock has been a hard place to go, and not just for us,’ said the 23-year-old. ‘We are desperate to win, though, not just for the sake of the league but also to bounce back from the loss to Valencia.
‘We’ve had a couple of bad results there and we want to rectify that. Killie have played well at home but we’re more than confident going there.’
Although happy to admit he signed the petition, Christie does not give off the air of a man who is especially inconvenienced by playing on artificial surfaces.
‘Ask any player and they’ll say they prefer grass to Astroturf but, at the same time, it’s been in the league for a few years and we’re all used to it.
‘We know at the start of every season we’ll play a few games on Astroturf and have to change our game accordingly. I don’t think it’s something to get caught up on.
‘What do I have to do differently? It depends on a lot of things — if it’s wet, it can actually help. It speeds the game up. It’s more if it’s a dry, sunny day that it gets a bit sticky and slows the game down. But it’s the same for both sides.’
The possession stats for Thursday night’s defeat to Valencia showed that Celtic actually had more of the ball than their Spanish visitors. Yet, against opponents primed to pounce on errors and punish accordingly, they find themselves with a 2-0 deficit going into the return on Thursday night.
Christie admits there is a significant jump to European level.
‘It’s a little bit difficult,’ he said. ‘That’s why every week the gaffer always wants us to play as quickly as we can at the top of our game.
‘When you come into games like Valencia, you must move the ball faster. European football is so much slicker, you need to be careful with your passing. We started okay on Thursday, but we lost composure on the ball at times.’ One of Christie’s best showings in a Celtic jersey came in the 2-1 win over RB Leipzig at Parkhead back in November.
Revelling at the heart of a high-energy attacking performance, the Inverness-born midfielder was a thorn in the flesh of the Bundesliga side but couldn’t establish the same intensity against Valencia.
With the Spanish team’s central duo of Geoffrey Kondogbia and Daniel Parejo (replaced at half-time by Francis Coquelin) exerting a firm grip of the midfield, Celtic struggled.
‘We started the game perfectly in our eyes, the first 15-20 minutes we dominated possession and looked like we could be a threat going forward,’ added Christie.
‘But Valencia came with a really good game plan. For a team to be playing 4-4-2, you’d think we could open them up. But we found it very difficult to break them down.
‘We can only blame ourselves, though, because at times our discipline on the ball and lack of control when we actually had it cost us in the end. We lost our goals from two counter-attacks and we must learn from that.’
With Clarke at the helm, Killie have also proven adept at exploiting weakness.
In September, they came from a goal down to win 2-1. At that point, Celtic looked distracted by the fallout from a fretful summer transfer window but last month’s Premier shutdown saw them return with a new focus.
‘Since the break, we’ve scored a lot of goals and not conceded any in the league,’ said Christie. ‘We need to continue that amazing form.’