Callum is a hit after miss
McGregor puts his Borussia demons to bed with classy and courageous display against Highlanders
BRAVERY was the word of the day. Richie Foran slammed his Inverness Caley Thistle players for showing none. Callum McGregor earned plaudits for coming out fighting.
Minutes from the end of the Champions League draw in Monchengadbach last midweek, the Parkhead midfielder had a gilt-edged opportunity to win it.
He could have scored. Brendan Rodgers said he should have scored. When he didn’t, McGregor almost became the story.
‘It has been hard for me,’ he admitted. ‘When you get in that position, you try to finish — it didn’t happen and then after that you hear people talking about it and you have to try to put it to the back of your mind.
‘I didn’t get caught in two minds. I got through and the angle I was at, I could see the keeper had made himself look big but there was a wee area to aim for, and I tried to put it in the bottom corner. If I was in that position again, I would do the same.
‘I dragged it a bit. I know everyone was disappointed, but no more than me. All I can do is take it in my stride and bounce back.’
McGregor had two choices. Shrink and retreat into a shell of self-doubt. Or accept an invitation to make amends by starting against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
‘It did fire me up,’ he admitted. ‘It isn’t nice to have people speaking negatively about you — you have to use it and take that into the next game.’
His response narrowly failed to earn a man-of-the-match award against Inverness.
The rejuvenation of Stuart Armstrong continues apace. Switching from midfield to a makeshift right-back when Mikael Lustig limped from the pitch in the 13th minute, Rodgers referred to him afterwards as the ‘blond Cafu.’ Celtic’s manager had his tongue firmly lodged in cheek as he spoke.
Yet, as Alan Hutton picks a particularly poor time to retire from international football, Gordon Strachan could do worse. He’s hardly spoiled for choice.
Rodgers has rediscovered the player Celtic signed before the ruinous insistence of Ronny Deila of using him as a left midfielder. Ghosting into fine positions against Aberdeen and Inverness, his only flaw remains his finishing.
McGregor can relate to that criticism after the miss in Monchengladbach. But he, too, made telling contributions on Saturday.
An intelligent, weighted ball into the path of Scott Sinclair allowed the Premiership’s top scorer to glide between two defenders and calmly prod the ball under keeper Owain Fon Williams for his ninth league goal of the season in 48 minutes.
‘The manager did say that was some good quality for the first goal,’ said McGregor. ‘That silenced the critics from the other night.’
He had already placed one on a plate for Leigh Griffiths, the Scotland striker producing an outstanding first-half fingertip save from Fon Williams with a fizzing volley.
Griffiths was restored to the starting line-up in a new 3-5-2 formation. It didn’t last long. Lustig was removed following an uncompromising challenge, forced Rodgers to slot Armstrong into an unfamiliar position in a 4-4-2. Foran was scathing of his team’s moral and mental fibre afterwards, yet the visitors proved a tough nut to breakdown. The complaint is obvious. Once they cracked, they fell to pieces. McGregor was central, once more, to the second goal which killed the contest and reduced Caley to ten men. Credit where it’s due. Referee Crawford Allan played a superb advantage when McGregor was clattered by Greg Tansey after sending Moussa Dembele flying towards goal. The striker’s curling low effort was saved, Griffiths slotting the rebound in for 2-0 from close range. For Tansey, there was no escape from justice. Already booked, he was shown a second yellow. Despite notching his ninth goal of the season, Griffiths is likely to find himself on the substitutes bench when Strachan names his team to take on England at Wembley on Friday. The situation remains inexplicable.
Yet, for McGregor, a chance to make amends for the Monchengladbach miss had been taken.
‘It was a good confidence boost that the manager backed me to start the Inverness game,’ he said. ‘I am thankful for that and I hope I repaid him with a good performance.
‘Sometimes a miss can mean you can be left out. But as I say the manager has backed me, I got a start at the weekend and put in a good performance. So Tuesday goes to the back of your mind and, as a player, it’s important to focus on the positives.
‘You are going to have ups and downs, so it’s important to stay mentally strong because if you crumble you have no chance.’
Celtic scored a third eight minutes from time. Armstrong refused to give up on a Patrick Roberts ball to the byeline, showing remarkable energy to cut it back for substitute Tom Rogic to thrash a left-foot shot into the net from 14 yards.
Foran suggested before kick-off that talk of a chasm between Celtic and the rest was exaggerated. The fear factor, claimed the Irishman, had gone from Parkhead.
Angered by the challenge which led to Liam Polworth leaving Celtic Park on crutches, Foran slammed the referee but took nothing away from the home team.
‘This game was lost before it started,’ said the Inverness boss. ‘If you haven’t got belief in football, you’re in trouble.’
Restoring a ten-point lead at the top of the Premiership, Celtic lack none of that.
Praised for their attacking prowess in the early weeks of the season, they have also shown a harder edge to their game lately. Foran’s unhappiness with the courage of his side and refereeing overlooks the fact Inverness finished the game with ten men. They were no shrinking wall-flowers.
‘We can handle ourselves,’ added McGregor. ‘We can do the ugly side of the game as well such as standing up to a team like Inverness who come to our place and are physical.
‘We need to deal with that kind of thing. All the teams raise their game at Celtic Park and we have to be at our top level every week, stand up to these challenges and we showed that on Saturday.’