Motherwell defender Paul McGinn has lamented his team’s failure to show more bravery on the ball at Celtic Park on Saturday, feeling they could have caused more problems in the Scottish Premiership clash.
The Steelmen came out of the fixture with a 2-1 defeat – a scoreline that perhaps flattered their role in the contest. They rarely threatened goalkeeper Joe Hart with their solitary goal arriving after a Josip Juranovic mix-up with the Englishman.
Celtic were pretty comfortable throughout, apart from a late bit of anxiety as a result of Callum McGregor’s sending-off. Even then, dropping points was never really on the cards.
McGinn reckons his team could have done better, telling The Glasgow Times: “We are frustrated. I thought when we were brave on the ball, we caused them problems. I thought we could have been braver. For the first 20 minutes, I thought we were a bit like rabbits in the headlights.
“Celtic can do that to teams. But I thought we actually had a bit of composure, the goal helps with that, it calms you down. That is now three games in a row where we have played quite well and got nothing. Football is a tough game.
“I think if you sit against Celtic, they will just murder you anyway. You need to take risks. We have a goalkeeper who can take the ball, and that helps. We can go through him. I watch Real Madrid pass to their keeper a hundred times. It is good that we have that option.
“I felt we could have actually done that more as it frustrates Celtic. They press and press you, but they are human. They can’t keep doing that. When we did, we knew in the final third we had threats with set pieces. It is hard not to be frustrated.”
That’s the catch-22 of facing Celtic – sit back and get swarmed, push forward too much and you will be exposed. In the end, as McGinn alludes to, Motherwell didn’t really do either.
They did appear caught between two gameplans, never really threatening nor frustrating the Bhoys.
The away side were combative and didn’t make it a breeze for Postecoglou’s side, but perhaps a better performance may have given them the edge they needed to catch the Celtic defence on an off day.
In other news, Axed defender goes into Ange Postecoglou dynamic at Celtic.
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