Celtic maintained their push towards the u-20 title with a 1-0 win at Falkirk last Tuesday but not much about the performance pleased John Kennedy.
Six wins and a draw from the last seven matches in the league have put the young hoops in a commanding position without hitting the heights expected by the backroom team.
Bahrudin Atajic struck the only goal of the match when he latched onto a slack back-pass but Celtic were unable to build on that with Falkirk pushing hard for an equaliser in the closing stages.
“It’s good to be picking up wins but we’re asking the players to give us more,” Kennedy admitted. “We want a more polished performance than they’ve shown even though they are getting results.
“I thought that Falkirk were excellent and probably deserved something from the game, they were a real threat.
“Our goalie and back four deserve credit, they kept a clean sheet and that’s a positive to take.
“The players are working hard in training so hopefully we’ll turn a corner and get performances as well as results. At this level we want performances to show that they are good players able to step up to the next level which is the first team.”
Kennedy added: “We’ve had a few injuries but we have a bunch of good players desperate to play, when they do come in it’s upto them to show that.
“We have faith in our younger players to come in, we just need a bit more from everyone in terms of their performances.”
On Tuesday Celtic face Aberdeen at Firhill with a 3pm kick-off.
CLICK HERE for Regan defends shamed Ogilvie
Follow Video Celts on Twitter and Facebook
Well said John Kennedy, while it’s always good to see the team picking up points, sign of a good team – not playing well but still winning etc.
We should be showing our true ability, not being thrown off track by mere hustle bustle tactics, reduced to fighting like with like.
We are asking young players to step up and compete with in many cases much older / vastly more experienced campaigners. This in the long term will stand them in good stead.
To play at the top level, players need to be able to cope with all sorts of hurdles. There are no short cuts to true success, while it’s easy to play anti-football, pack the midfield / defence and deny the opponent time / space to play. In order to play at top flight we must be able to keep our composure, retain possession, show awareness of any given situation and to have full confidence in our own ability or team mates.
We have players who are better than any of our opponents, don’t be dragged down to lower levels. Control the tempo of all games, play OUR game and force the opposition into mistakes.
Great work to have opened up such a commanding lead at the top of the league, to also reach the semi-final of the premier youth cup, now go and win them in true Celtic style.
He is not kidding i was there and it was the worst game i have ever been to,It can only get better.