Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes wants his team to show a “fighting” and “scrapping” mentality against Celtic at Rugby Park, speaking ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Premiership clash.
Results haven’t gone Killie’s way in the league on Saturday with Dundee United picking up a massive win away to Motherwell to leapfrog the Ayrshire side into 10th position.
Celtic know exactly what to expect tomorrow. The home side will be physical and tenacious out of possession, keen to make it as uncomfortable an afternoon as possible on their artificial pitch. That’s certainly what McInnes is aiming for.
Speaking ahead of Celtic’s travels, McInnes said [The Herald]: “The last two in Glasgow at Celtic Park and at Hampden we did a lot right in the game. We went with different systems and at Hampden, I thought it was probably our best performance against Celtic. We were in the game right up until the dying embers but Celtic have been relentless this season.
“The game they lost there were a few key players not starting but their focus has always been there and being out of Europe has given them a real domestic focus. That consistency has been good for them but what we need to see is an improvement from us. We got that at Hampden.
“A lot of my players had never played there before and we dealt with that one with maturity but you almost have to be pitch-perfect to get a result against Celtic. We want to show that it can happen and we want to show we are fighting, we are scrapping and we are good enough to get a positive result. We want to go into the post-split fixtures in a good mindset.
“I want to see my team out there with intelligence, belief, organisation, and having that personality to think they can get a result. They are one of the few teams that we haven’t managed to get points from here. But my job is to instil belief and tactically we need to be spot-on.
“The players don’t live on Mars. They watch Celtic and they have played against them. They know they are good players and all I would ask is they don’t let Celtic enjoy the game and let them stroll about. This is the hardest three points to get in the league but there has to be a belief from us that we can get a positive result. I believe we can stop them.”
Despite McInnes’ belief, Celtic have an excellent record against Kilmarnock this season winning all three matches, scoring nine and not conceding a single goal. The Bhoys will be red-hot favourites on the road tomorrow for a reason.
But it is certainly worth noting that Killie are fighting for their top-flight status and aren’t going to make it easy for Celtic to pick up any points. Postecoglou’s side will need to be at their battling best to take another step towards the title.
In other news, Celtic standards strong as Ange Postecoglou feeds back derby errors to winning squad.
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