OH MY DAZE
Frimpong’s head’s in a spin as he comes to terms with Celtic’s title torment after glory days of 9 in a row and his breakthrough season
JEREMIE FRIMPONG did his initial lessons with a smile on his face during a golden first season at Celtic. This year he’s getting educated on the darker sides of football. Frimpong’s happy-go-lucky approach and infectious character lit up the side last term when manager Neil Lennon was unable to keep him out of the top team. Now the mood is different and the 20-year-old is experiencing a new emotions – disappointment, frustration, irritation. Like the rest of the squad his confidence is down and his performances are below par. Frimpong is less than a month out of his teens, so it’s part of his growth. Back-to-back home draws with Hibs and Livingston following the Old Firm loss 16 days ago has left their 10-in-a-row hopes in ruins. Celtic’s situation was not helped in the past two matches by the loss of 13 players due to Covid protocols following the disastrous consequences of the controversial mid-season training trip to Dubai.
The champions’ crown is close to being ripped off but he refuses to offer any excuses for Celtic’s title capitulation.
Assessing Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Livingston, he said: “It just wasn’t good enough from us. Of course we should have had enough out there to produce a better performance.
“Although there were a lot of players missing, there were enough regulars out there. That’s no excuse. The team that’s picked has to go out and perform. But we just didn’t do that.”
Celtic’s self-isolating players are scheduled to now be back at Lennoxtown alongside manager Neil Lennon and assistant John Kennedy ahead of Wednesday’s match against Livi in West Lothian.
Frimpong added: “Everyone goes through tough patches. It’s how you
As a footballer you’ve got to deal with every situation. There’s no point in complaining JEREMIE FRIMPONG IS HAVING TO DEAL WITH DIFFICULT RESULTS
handle them. This is a test of everyone’s character.
“As a footballer, you’ve got to deal with every situation. It is what it is. There’s no point in complaining.”
Complaining, no. But soul searching, yes. Saturday’s draw with Livi was almost too much for Frimpong to bear.
He could have made excuses with the absentees but it’s beyond that point now in the eyes of the supporters and the player himself admitted the boys on the park had to do more.
He said: “I felt confident before the game that we’d produce the performance that would get us the result we needed but it didn’t work out like that. I can’t explain why.
“We still had a strong side and a good shape to us. We just didn’t play well enough.
“It’s been strange the past few days without the manager and John Kennedy being around as you work so closely with them.
“They’ve got their messages through to us but obviously it’s just not the same as seeing them in person. It’s happened. We’ve just got to deal with it. All we can do is keep going now.”
Frimpong had one of the team’s few opportunities against Livi when he was denied by a save in the first half by keeper Max Stryjek and he added: “If that had gone in it might have been a different story.
“The keeper made a good save to be fair. These are the things you need to go your way. We didn’t create too much in the game. One goal might have done it but I don’t think we can complain at the result.”
Frimpong was correct on that front. The away side had just as many good opportunities through the 90 minutes as the home team and could easily have won themselves to extend their eightgame winning run.
Frimpong wasn’t shocked at the display of the Lions as he said: “They are a good team that’s on a good run so they were coming here with a lot of confidence. I thought they would set out to have a go at us and that’s how it proved. I wasn’t surprised at that.”
Ironically, having clashed at the weekend, both sides will come face to face again on Wednesday night.
While the team names may be the same, the personnel will be much changed for the visitors at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
Lennon, Kennedy and the 13 self-isolating players are back at Lennoxtown today working towards the contest with a raft of changes set to be made from the Celtic side which limped to the weekend stalemate.
In terms of the title race, it’s not going to matter, but in terms of boosting morale within the camp,
Frimpong says victory is essential as he said: “We have to go there and win. It’s that simple.
“We should be helped by a number of players coming back which is a positive. Hopefully we can win.
“All we can do is try to keep winning. We’ll see. We don’t look at the league table. We just take one game at a time and see where it takes us.
“Do we believe we can still turn this around? Like I say it’s one game at a time.
“It’s been a tough week but there is no point in feeling sorry for ourselves.
“There’s a lot of football still to be played and nobody is giving up on anything.
“There’s maybe a slight lack of confidence at the moment.
“That only comes if you are winning games and it will only return when we do that.
“It’s a good thing that we’ve got this game on Wednesday.”