We’ve fallen to pieces at times this season but Sunday showed we’ve got our calmness back.. the Cup is vital, this is a hungry group who want to win trophies
SAYS JOHN KENNEDY
CELTIC’S 10-in-a-row dreams have been shattered this season but John Kennedy is convinced the pieces can be put back together to rebuild the club as the dominant force in Scottish football.
The interim Hoops boss reckons he has seen the green shoots of recovery in recent weeks and the performance in Sunday’s Old Firm stalemate was a statement of intent as Kennedy felt Celtic deserved to emerge victorious from the dead rubber.
The Parkhead club remain in a state of stasis with a caretaker in charge following Neil Lennon’s departure, chief executive Peter Lawwell working his notice and a complete revamp under way behind the scenes.
There’s also set to be a major overhaul of the squad with contracts running down, loan players heading home and top assets instructing their agents to circulate their CVs.
Celtic fans might be wishing away the months in wait of the impending revolution but Kennedy is clear there is still plenty to play for this season and is determined to end a desperate campaign with a trophy in the cabinet.
He said: “The Scottish Cup is important. We want to give our supporters as many trophies as possible. This is a hungry group.
“There’s been a lot of doubts cast on this side this season. Sunday showed that, yes, we’ve underperformed at periods and lost the title but we are still capable of being a dominant team that can go and win things.
“That’s important for us. You can talk about wholesale changes and smashing everything up after a successful period but it takes time to rebuild.
“We have to take the good out of the game and improve on it to get back to winning ways.”
Kennedy knows there’s been a
There’sbeen doubtscastonthis sidebutwearestill capableofbeing adominantteam things win that can JOHNKENNEDY
soft centre at Celtic’s core this season, particularly when events have conspired against them.
When the chips have been down, ‘we’ve fallen to pieces a bit’, he admitted but that wasn’t the case against Rangers.
Kennedy felt losing a leveller against the run of play at the weekend would have instigated a collapse.
But he could see a resilience that has been absent too often this term and it has given him belief better times are ahead.
Kennedy said: “You have seen that fragility at times and it’s something we’ve tried to address.
“When you get a setback it’s how you respond to it. That can be the bigger picture like dealing with losing a cup, or whether it’s in a game like conceding a goal.
“We saw on Sunday a team that quickly regrouped. We got hold of the ball again and control of the game.
“You could see we were quickly passing it about and getting that confidence back again.
“We felt our way back into the match, whereas in the past we’ve maybe been caught thinking about it too much, looking nervy and agitated – and we’ve fallen to pieces a bit.
“But we brought a bit of calmness back to the play on Sunday. When you do that it’s about creating more chances and hopefully scoring goals. It’s
something we’ve tried to address. I thought the players did that well to a large extent.
“In the three games, we were very good in the first half against Aberdeen, in the second not so much, with a bit of stress in there.
“Against Dundee United we were very good for 60 or 70 minutes. On Sunday we had control for the 90 minutes, there weren’t any moments when I felt we were off it.
“It was just disappointing we didn’t get the result.”
But Kennedy isn’t pulling any wool over anyone’s eyes. He is aware some of the same old issues are never far away and he was pulling his hair out at another set-piece ending up in Celtic’s net after a fortnight trying to hammer home the importance of dead-ball defending.
He said: “It is something we’ve worked a lot on and will continue to work on. We will never stop until we fix it.
“Even when we fix it we will continue with that. I don’t want the review of the game to be about Celtic conceding at another set-play.
“I want people to look at the actual performance. We showed we were the better team, we created better chances and ultimately we should have won the game.
“It is something we will fix and continue trying to address. But overall the quality of performance was good.”
Kennedy takes particular pride in the development of Stephen Welsh. The youngster has quietly impressed in recent months on his run in the side and his cool display on Sunday was a world away from the frantic debut he was handed in the first Old Firm clash of the season.
The interim gaffer said: “He had a quiet game on Sunday – that’s a great thing for a centre-back.
“If you’re quiet then it means you’re not making any mistakes.
“Stephen’s a terrific boy and he thoroughly deserves his place in the team at the minute.
“He’s consistent, he knows what he’s doing and he knows the role. He’s a real team player who puts his body on the line when he has to.
“He’s also improved his distribution massively. His performances are getting better and better all the time.
“He needs to stick with it and keep progressing.”