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After a disappointing defeat to 10-man Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday, Celtic sit two points behind the Dons who still have a game in hand.
Celtic midfielder Gary Mackay-Steven spoke of the 2-1 defeat on Saturday and also vowed that Celtic will correct the wrongdoings.
More abject defending from set pieces proved costly for Celtic and after exiting the Champions League in a gutless manner, this week’s trip to Amsterdam is even more important.
As reported by the Daily Mail, the Hoops midfielder said:
It is never nice. We are not used to losing. It is not the way the players approach the game. We have a winning mentality. Nobody accepts a loss.
But they happen and we need to show what we are made of.
I think we have to stand up and be counted now.
We didn’t play as well as we could. We know Aberdeen are a good team and they punished us.
Despite the upset at losing late on through yet another set piece, Mackay-Steven is already forgetting the result and looking ahead to Thursday night.
The Hoops exit from the Champions League has put the spotlight on them to perform at a high-level week-in-week-out both domestically and in the Europa League, the lesser of the two European club competitions.
It’s not a crisis in our eyes to be honest. It is early on in the season.
Ajax is a massive game. It is away from home and we will need to be at the top of our game if we are going to take anything from it. We need put things right on the training field this week and I’m sure we will.
Summer signing Tyler Blackett started and new Bhoy Simunovic was omitted having just begun training with the first-team. It will be interesting to see what back four Deila opts for to solve the defensive problems.