It’s one thing to lose a game of football but Celtic’s defeat to Dundee United is another thing entirely after Will Ferry stood in front of Sky Sports camera and stated that they simply “wanted it more.”
Ferry spoke directly after Dundee United beat Celtic and his words shouldn’t just have annoyed the Hoops dressing room, they should have cut like a knife.
Ferry told Sky Sports, “Character. I think after last week [after surrendering a 2-0 lead to Dundee] it was a chance to show how much that hurt us. I think we did.
“When we went out there we were aggressive, we wanted it, and even managing the game at the end was part of the performance.
“Happy, but it’s three points, it doesn’t make it any better than normal three points, so buzzing.”
Ferry’s comments were not just post-match words. They were a cold, hard reflection of what Celtic fans saw on the pitch.
Celtic’s title desire called into question after Dundee United defeat
Celtic weren’t just outplayed, Martin O’Neill’s team were out-fought. In a title race this tight, dropping points can be a setback, but dropping your standards and having a team who have not won a game since December calling them out is embarrassing.
The hard part of this week is not looking at the league table, Celtic have pulled back bigger gaps to much better teams and have still won the league.
The real sting is Celtic’s loss of fight. There was a time when teams looked at the Celtic jersey and prepared for a ninety-minute siege.
Now, Ferry is telling the world that managing the game against us was just part of the performance. He made it sound easy. He made it sound like United had the psychological edge from the first whistle.
Celtic must use Ferry’s words to fuel title charge
If an opposition player can walk off the park and honestly say his team had more hunger than Celtic, then this team needs to have a long hard look at themselves.
Celtic need to find that character Ferry was talking about, or this title charge is going to stall permanently.
It’s time for Celtic to stop the malaise, stop with the last-minute comebacks and start to dominate teams from the very first whistle.
Losing to a team because of lack of desire is unforgivable. Losing a title to either Hearts or Rangers without a fight is shameful.
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