DREAM
Welsh’s first derby turns into a nightmare
STEPHEN WELSH was left gutted his derby dream turned sour.
The Celtic youngster was unable to take any pleasure or enjoyment from such a huge day in his fledgling career after Rangers raided Parkhead.
Welsh was pitched into the line-up for just a second topteam outing as Neil Lennon juggled the resources left within his shredded squad.
Having played just once, against Hamilton last season, the 20-year-old was thrown a shirt for the crunch against the Ibrox side with Christopher Jullien, Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed all sidelined.
Welsh did little wrong during 90 minutes but that meant absolutely nothing to him after his side lost 2-0.
He said: “I ’m obviously gutted. The result was really disappointing. We need to win the derby games. The only goal was to win.
“I don’t think we played particularly well at all and unfortunately came out of the wrong side with a defeat.
“It was a big day for me but all that matters is go and win the game. I’m just gutted we didn’t do it.
“You do your shape and that type of thing but you don’t actually know who is playing until the manager announces the team.
“When you see your name on that teamsheet you need to be ready. There are no excuses any more, you have to get out there and do the business.
“It was unfortunate we didn’t manage it.”
Clearly, it was not what the youngster would have been entitled to envisage for an Old Firm debut.
Normally there would have been 60,000 people inside the stadium roaring support for him. There have been many joyous days in the east end for
NEW FOCUS Celtic must now prepare for AC Milan and Ibrahimovic
Celtic players in the recent past against Rangers.
This time the stands were empty and the result was poor.
Celtic were unable to recover from the loss of an early opening goal to Connor Goldson following a James Tavernier free-kick and were sunk when the Ibrox centreback netted again nine minutes after the restart.
Welsh refused to dwell on what might have been.
Instead, with great maturity, he gave an honest assessment and said: “With 60,000 fans in the stadium we feel as though we can beat anyone. But it’s not an excuse.
“We’ve played in it like that a few times now.
“Personally, it would have been great to have had 60,000 but you just need to deal with it and play your own game.
“At 1-0 down this team can score goals. You have the belief that we can score but we didn’t create as many chances as we would have liked.
“I don’t think their keeper really had a save to make, so that’s disappointing and so were the goals we lost.
“We need to work on that defensively. We were adamant we couldn’t concede from a set-piece, so that was really disappointing.”
Welsh admits the dressing room was a sombre area after the loss but insists there is no time for disappointment to linger with huge matches coming thick and fast. Celtic have a massive Europa League tie against Zlatan Ibrahimovic when AC Milan arrive on Thursday night before facing Lille in France the following week.
Domestically, Lennon’s men go to Aberdeen on Sunday for a vital Premiership fixture and face the Dons again seven days later at Hampden in the delayed 2019-20 Scottish Cup semi-final.
Welsh didn’t try to dress up the mood of the camp after the final whistle at the weekend as he added: “What was the dressing room like after the game? What would you imagine it would be like? Everyone was gutted. It was just really disappointing.
“But we have a big game on Thursday against AC Milan and then another big one on Sunday against Aberdeen, so we need to bounce back.”
Welsh would love an opportunity to stay in the side for the upcoming tests and said: “We’ll see. AC Milan is another great test.
“The Rangers match was only my second game, so to play against ACC Milan for my third would be a good test. But you neverever know until the teamam gets announced.
“These are the games you want to be playingng in as a kid, so you mightt as well play in them rightht from the start and that’st’s it. It’s experience.”
Welsh, meanwhile, while, had words of praiseise for new team-mate Diego Laxalt. Along withh the young defender,, the Uruguayan wawas s another of the few bright notes of the TOUGH TASK Welshsh takes on Scott Arfieldeld day for Lennon as he settled into the line-up.
While many of the team’s established stars failed to fire, Laxalt showed plenty of promise in his first appearance after signing on loan from AC Milan.
Welsh said: “He’s got so much quality. He’s played in World Cups and with AC Milan at the highest level.
“He’s a really good player and he will need to understand the mentality of the boys and the mentality of Celtic. “It’ll come in time because he’s a really,y reallyyggood pplayer.” y
All that matters is go and win the game. I’m gutted we didn’t STEPHEN WELSH SAW IT ALL GO WRONG FOR CELTS