CAL WON’T BE CAUGHT COLD
to suggest we can go there and turn it around.
“We need to stay focused and stay calm.
“We know it will be a tough game out there but I saw enough to believe we can turn it around.
“If the game finishes 2-1 we would have a real good chance. But that’s the sort of naivety we have at this level in terms of this being a new group.
“So, we’ve got to learn from that. We’ll do the analysis and learn that you’ve always got to switch on, especially when you score.
“That’s probably when you’re at your most vulnerable. We have to take that on the chin, reassess it, we go there next week and try to turn it around.”
Bodo are still in pre-season and had not played a competitive game since December.
But it was Celtic who were caught cold as the Norwegians were ahead when Runar Espejord struck inside the opening six minutes.
It got worse for the Hoops when Ahmahl Pellegrino pounced to make it two and despite Daizen Maeda pulling one back, the immediate response from Hugo Vetlesen has left Celts with a mountain to climb.
His deflected effort gave Hoops keeper Joe Hart no chance as it looped into the back of the net.
McGregor said: “It is always difficult when you go a goal behind so early in the game. That gives you a mountain to climb. “We created a lot of good situations around the box but we were just lacking in that bit of quality. “We got the goal and thought we had the ascendancy. But then we conceded straight away. “It was just the final pass wasn’t there. It shows we still have a lot of learning to do to step up in these big games and in those final moments.
“They got three goals tonight because they had that quality.”
Hoops boss Ange Postecoglou admitted Celts didn’t hit the heights but he won’t go out without a fight.
He said: “It was a disappointing night and we didn’t get the result we wanted.
“The performance was OK. We controlled the game but got caught on the counter a couple of times and they scored from that.
“That made us a bit vulnerable going forward but we had some chances and probably weren’t clinical enough.
“It’s not over. It’s halftime. I don’t think anyone will think we are just going over there to play 90 minutes.
“It was a disappointing night for a number of reasons but that’s part of football. We will dust ourselves off and go again.
“We conceded the first goal but we weren’t clinical after that. We should have worn them down in the game.
“But we conceded a second and that gave them the opportunity to sit back and hit us on the counter-attack.
“We had some chances but I thought we didn’t have enough variety in our front third.
“It’s all part of football and part of our evolution.
“It’s still an opportunity for us.
“It’s half-time, we are 3-1 down and we’ll see what happens.”