After the match the manager spoke with the media.
Reflecting on the game
“I’m pretty sure the majority of the reports today will say that if you don’t take those chances against Celtic when they come then it normally comes back to bite you. I’m disappointed we haven’t struck first. The first five or ten minutes I thought Celtic had a wee bit of a foothold without causing us too many problems and thereafter we were very good in terms of counter attacking with a good shape. We were asking a couple of boys to play out of position slightly, but I thought the pressure on the ball was good and we defended ok.
“The lack of concentration for the first goal disappoints me especially after having those chances. There should be more pressure on the ball initially in the wider area as McGregor puts the ball in and as a consequence my back four have to be deeper when there’s zonal pressure. That ball where it bounces before Lustig puts his head on it should be defended by an Aberdeen player because we’re too high when there’s no pressure on the ball. Stevie being out of position potentially is a factor in dropping Lustig.
“We spoke at half time about the positives and making sure we defend better. I was disappointed we gave away a corner, although Shay’s lacking a bit of sharpness and deserves a lot of credit, but we gave away a corner for the second. It doesn’t matter what team you’re against if you’re not getting that first touch in your own box from set plays a lot of the time you can find yourself in a lot of trouble. We should defend and not let Simonovic get the free header and we’ve been punished for it.
“At 2-0 we’ve got a lot to do, but we still had a lot of good moments. We’ve got to be more clinical with our work and show more quality in the final third because we got into good areas. It was a strange game and I think 3-0 in terms of the context of the game maybe seemed to be a bit harsh on us, but when I go through the goals from our point of view the disappointing thing for me is I don’t think Celtic have had to show their quality to get the goals. For me a lot of it was self-inflicted.
“They had their lead and saw the game through.”
Looking Ahead
“Now we have to knuckle down and get ready for Hearts next week. Hopefully we can get a few more out the treatment room and there’s been a couple more injuries today. Hopefully we can a couple more out and help us with our cause to get three points next Friday.
Sectarian Singing
“I just got asked again there if I heard it and of course I heard it. I’ve been hearing it for years, but it’s not if I hear it, the question should be if other people are hearing it. It’s not going to change. The biggest surprise would have been if I hadn’t heard it today. It is what it is. I think there’s been a missed opportunity to send out the right message there. I served my punishment today and I’ll be glad to get back out to the dugout next week.”
Injury Update
“I think Greg Halford has tore his calf so that’ll be him for the season. We’ll assess that tomorrow. Gleeson had a calf strain on Thursday which ruled him out yesterday. We’ll certainly have Andy Considine back from suspension, which stuck in the throat from last week, but we’ve had to deal with that today. Credit to Shay as he clearly wasn’t fully fit and match ready, but he’s great in how he’s put himself forward. He’s brought an energy and enthusiasm to his training and was doing everything to get involved, but he ran his race after 65 minutes and he’ll be better for having had the game.”
On Serving The Suspension
“It’s unusual for me. I’ve been managing 12 years and it’s the first time I’ve had a suspension so I didn’t enjoy it particularly and didn’t enjoy watching my team lose the game. Thankfully I’ll be back in the dugout next week.”
“It’s unusual for me. I’ve been managing 12 years and it’s the first time I’ve had a suspension so I didn’t enjoy it particularly and didn’t enjoy watching my team lose the game. Thankfully I’ll be back in the dugout next week.”
