Celtic midfielder Matt O’Riley has claimed that the dressing room atmosphere at Parkhead is a positive one despite their frustrating Euro setback on Thursday night as he issues a defiant title statement.
The Hoops are coming off of another hugely disappointing night against Bodo/Glimt in the Europa Conference League. A weak 2-0 loss in Norway has ended our European dreams for another season.
Ange clearly showed his hand when he made a host of changes for the clash against Kjetil Knutsen’s side. His priority was always evidently today’s game against Hibernian at Easter Road. Even so, an early European exit wasn’t on the cards and will likely have been deflating for the players.
Thankfully, O’Riley has stated that the main focus is now on the league championship as he recognises no ill effects from Thursday when it comes to the dressing room mood.
As quoted by the Daily Record, O’Riley said: “It will help us (being out of Europe) and that has to be the focus for us now. We’ve got the league and the Scottish Cup to concentrate on. We want to win both of them and we feel like we can.
“The mood is still good in the camp. We’re disappointed about Thursday night but it gives us more of a chance to focus on the league. A lot of people outside, like the fans, won’t feel this is the end of the world because we can concentrate on the league and Scottish Cup.
“The title is definitely there for us and it’s our intention to win it.”
A statement of title defiance
The message is clear from O’Riley. Nobody is to expect Celtic to just surrender their lead at the top of the Premiership anytime soon. The negative emotions from Thursday night aren’t to be carried into today’s game against Hibernian in Leith.
That’s promising stuff from a supporter’s perspective. We’ve seen how easily in the past dropped points are after European exertions. The fact we’re at one of the toughest grounds in Scottish football this afternoon too will have many fearing it’s a recipe for disaster.
Hibernian are picking up form under Shaun Maloney and will go into this one in a confident mindset. Whether they’re ready to take on the league leaders remains to be seen. But it’s not as if Celtic will have it easy at a ground we’ve only won once at in the Premiership since 2014.
One big advantage for the Hoops today will be Hibernian’s injury problems. They could be without as many as 8 players for this afternoon’s match. Maloney has already stated that he’s never seen anything like it [Daily Record].
So it’s all set up for Celtic to record a positive result and get a huge 3 points that would put us 6 clear of Rangers before their match with Motherwell at Ibrox this afternoon.
Time will tell just how confident Celtic are when we step out onto the pitch in Edinburgh. If the free-flowing football is back, we’ll know that no side effects have occurred from Thursday. Promisingly, the message from the dressing room is one of sheer defiance.
In other news, 7 necessary changes, big returns; Celtic Predicted XI vs Hibernian
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