Celtic managed to secure a Champions League point after being 1-0 down at halftime at Celtic Park, but that clearly wasn’t good enough for the team.
As the full-time whistle blew, Celtic players on the pitch were fuming because they hadn’t managed to win, and that’s exactly what you want in a team.
It highlighted the winning mentality in the team, with the mindset at Celtic taking Auston Trusty by surprise.
He said: (Daily Record), “I’ve been in locker rooms when you get away from this kind of game and guys are excited, but you go back in the locker room tonight and see guys p***ed off and really, really upset and that shows a lot of the character that’s in the team.
“We weren’t happy with how we played in the first half, but we thought that we should have won this game and it was a real opportunity for us, not just to get one point but to get three points. Obviously, you take the point, but it’s good to see that guys are angry going into the locker room and sitting there just quiet.”
Trusty said: “We just weren’t playing in our character in the first half, so I think we all felt it. Sometimes you need that little huddle to wake everybody up and say, okay, what’s happened has happened, now we can move on from it.
“So that was a moment for us to make some changes and get some momentum back in the game.”
With most supporters likely content with the draw due to the nature of the comeback, the Celtic team were upset with the draw, and this highlights the players’ demand for more from themselves.
Brendan Rodgers brings a winning mentality to the club, and a mindset to always strive for more and perfection, and this is clear to see from Trusty’s comments.
The USA international is learning from a dressing room that breathes success, and on a night like tonight, a draw is seen as below the standards required.
Celtic’s captain McGregor on ‘flat’ atmosphere at full-time
Q&A
Was a draw a fair result after that 90 minutes?
I think on balance they edged it in the first half, we edged it in the second. It was probably a fair result in the end. I felt when we got going in the second half we were the team who was most likely to win. It is a tough level and if you can’t win it then you certainly don’t lose them and you take your point and extend the run. It keeps us in good shape.
Did it take you a while to get used to the way they were pressing?
Yes. I think with and without the ball, we were a little bit late with the pressure. You spend so much time chasing the ball that when you get it your legs have gone and you try to move and you are static. That happened with the goal. We turn over possession and we are a bit static and it ends up in the goal. In the first half, it took us a while to get to grips with the game. I thought we rectified that in the second half and put a lot more pressure on them and they started kicking the ball long and we gained control of the game. So a draw was a fair result.
How is Cameron Carter-Vickers after the own goal? He is a strong character and I’m sure he won’t let that affect him.
Everyone in the team makes mistakes at times and that’s fine. We are asked to play like that which is a high tempo, high courage game and take the ball and pass it in tight situations. There is no blame attachment at all. It is a team thing. He will be absolutely fine. We just wanted to remain calm and get control of the ball and in the last 10 minutes of the first half, we made more passes and started to in them in. You could see the disorganisation from there. It was a step up from that in quality against the ball and when we did that we looked like the team who was more comfortable.
