KENNEDY CALLS FOR CALM
Celtic boss doesn’t want his players to end up emotionally drained by cup clash with rivals
THE last time Celtic lost a Scottish Cup tie to Rangers it was the catalyst for considerable change at the club. Out went Ronny Deila after the 2016 semi-final penalty shoot-out defeat at Hampden and in came Brendan Rodgers. Green and white ribbons have yet to be released from the trophy since.
Still, with last season’s contest, which took place in December, going to penalties against Hearts, John Kennedy has ensured that there was time spent at Lennoxtown during the week on spot-kicks given that this afternoon’s tie could yet be decided that way.
There will be no replays in any of the fixtures with all games played to a finish; the last two meetings between the rivals have ended in draws so it is no great surprise that Kennedy has urged the players to be prepared for being put on the spot.
“Yes we have covered everything,” said Kennedy. “We don’t like to leave anything to chance. Once you have got a plan and you have covered everything then you feel fully prepared. So we did a bit of that [penalty practice] on Friday and we touched on it yesterday just to be sure. Ideally we won’t get to that point but you always have to be prepared.
“We’re going in with the confidence that our performance levels against them in the last two games have been good but it’s about results, especially in a cup game. We want to go one step better and make sure it’s a good performance with that clinical edge at both ends of the pitch and that’ll be positive for us. Mentality-wise we’ll take confidence from the performance but it’s about the result.”
Four games have passed between the sides since Celtic last beat Rangers. Their League Cup success in 2019 at Hampden was the last time they won against Steven Gerrard’s side.
The last two performances have perhaps underlined the shift in psychology in the fixture with an argument to be made that Celtic had the better of the games without having the necessary conviction to translate that into the result they needed, albeit that Nir Bitton’s dismissal in January had a significant sway in turning events.
Certainly, though, the results against Rangers this term were pivotal to Celtic’s floundering. The first defeat in October, when Celtic did not muster a single shot on target, set the tone for a campaign in which the Parkhead side played second fiddle throughout.
The defeat in January at Ibrox crystalised the loss of the title with the subsequent fallout post-Dubai affirming just how far off the pace Celtic had become.
Neil Lennon paid for it, inevitably, with his job with Kennedy admitting that there is still guilt in the dressing room at the manner of this season’s unravelling.
“Sometimes in the midst of a storm, when there is so much noise about the manager leaving, things can become a wee bit lost but again there is a reality check whenever that happens,” he said.
“Someone has had to lose their job because of the group performance and that sometimes shocks people into action. So we kind of used that as a motivation at the start.
“We are all very close to Neil, worked very well with him, had a successful period before hand and it hurt everybody.
“It wasn’t a case of putting the responsibility on to Neil because we all felt responsible for that. So we had to all be accountable for that but use it as a stimulant going forward to make sure we improved and we have done that.”
New chief executive Dom McKay will be in post tomorrow after taking leave of the SRU earlier than anticipated. Work will begin on the managerial side of things but his first day in office will be far easier if he is walking into Celtic Park on the back of a win.
“Possibly next week we might catch up at some point just because he is coming in,” said Kennedy. His main focus, though, is on today’s events.
“I am not one who gets overly emotional in the whole occasion and let that cloud any sort of judgement on anything or not go in without any fear,” he said. “Where the players are at gives me confidence going into the game that they are in good shape. When we do that we can perform to the best of our abilities and then I am sure we can come out with a positive result.
“That gives me a bit of comfort but in terms of around the place it is very much about bringing a calmness to it, you don’t want this to become an emotional week and by the end of it everybody feels a bit drained.
“So in the last couple of days we just start building it up slowly and then hopefully by game time the boys are in good shape and good to go.”