Stephen McManus wasn’t in the mood for sugar coating Celtic’s 1-0 Lowland League defeat at Berwick Rangers last night.Â
The B team started the season with a 3-1 home win over Cowdenbeath on Saturday but came unstick last night against a side that lost 6-0 away to Hearts B on Saturday.Â
Winning isn’t the be all and end all at this level but playing for Celtic at a professional level carries responsibility for those aiming to reach first team level.Â
Berwick finished last season in 8th place in the 18 team Lowland League last season following relegation from the SPFL with their part-time set up coming to terms with demotion and attempting t build up to compete with clubs ambitious to join the senior ranks.Â
There was no anger or fury in McManus’ reaction but his delivery made it very clear that higher standards are required if players are to achieve their ambitions at Celtic.
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?? Stephen McManus on tonight’s defeat. pic.twitter.com/McVJKjyxlN
— Celtic FC B (@CelticFCB) July 26, 2022
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If you don’t start the game well, at any level you will get punished and that was the case. We got caught on the hop, we you lost a goal early doors and we never really dominated the game by creating the chances that we usually do.Â
We had loads of the ball but I never felt that we really hurt them as much as we should have.Â
There are loads of games this year, the boys are going to play loads and loads of minutes which is important. All of the boys feel that at the moment they are on the cusp of first team football but they have a long way to go.Â
The good thing is that the games come thick and fast, they’ll prepare well, we’ll recover well and we’ll look forward to the game at the weekend.Â
On Saturday Celtic are away to Spartans who finished last season in fifth place, last night Spartans beat Hearts B 1-0.Â
CELTIC: Oluwayemi; Dede (Quinn 89) , Lawal, Otoo, Anderson; Letsoa, Carse (Thomson 67); Vata, Summers, Davidson; Kenny (Murphy 63)Â
SUBS: Luyeye, Morrison, Corr, KellyÂ
Team performance starts with how the players are set up to go on the pitch, poor coaching leads to failure, all players should already know what is required to gain an opportunity to play at next level.
The coach needs to start with how he performs before openly criticising youngsters.
A well organised enthusiastic team will not always win but they will be prepared before going on the field.
Berwick lost at the weekend to Hearts 0-6, looks like complacency from a few concerned. ALthough throughout last season we continually lost goals at vital times 1st 5 – last 5 before half time – 1st 5 mins of 2nd half or last 5 of the game – Corners were a real problem.
2 games in and we have lost a goal from a corner against 10 men, now lost a goal in 2 minutes. The oft quoted “We learn from out mistakes” doesn’t seem to be happening as we repeat them again & again. All players make mistakes but GOOD players learn from them.
Everyone should take full responsibility from players to management & coaches…simply not good enough.