‘We played like lost boys’ fumes Kris Commons

By ANDREW SMITH
Published on 28/10/2012 00:00

CELTIC’S display against Kilmarnock was eviscerated by home attacker Kris Commons in a two-and-a-half minute denunciation in which he spared no-one, including himself.

“Absolutely everything,” he replied to the question of what went wrong. “No,” he snapped to any enquiry as to whether the attitude was right. And that was just him warming up.

“I’m bitterly disappointed at the lack of workrate we put in, the desire to win. We demand as players to put in a performance that is acceptable and it was unacceptable today. That is from Big Fraz all the way through to the substitutes. You can’t expect to play so well one week and then put in that sort of performance. In the two games we have gone from one extreme to the other. We have gone from being really, really good defensively working off the ball, working hard and helping each other to looking like strangers, like lost boys.”

Commons said he knew there was a problem “as soon as we kicked off”. “We were just slow, there were too many people not playing at a good tempo. We were not closing down players as a team. We were not closing down as individuals. We looked as I said, like lost boys. I know there are a few people who came in today, myself, Jamesie [James Forest], Miku and Beram [Kayal] but [mostly] we have been playing together years now and it should all just click together. Once one player comes out, the other should just slide in nicely. We looked like a lost team out there today.

“People might use [Barcelona]as an excuse but, as professional players playing at a club like Celtic, you have to realise you will play in big stadiums around Europe. You have to get used to the travelling. You have to get your head right. You can’t just turn up and play well against Barcelona and get all the plaudits then think ‘Kilmarnock at home, I am just going to turn in a half performance’.”