"Trust the manager and what we are doing" - Callum McGregor tells Celtic support as the flak flies following derby defeat

Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor has urged the club’s support not to lose belief in manager Neil Lennon or the Scottish champions’ approach.
Celtic's Callum McGregor, here challenged by James Tavernier , has pleaded with supporters to "stay together" (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)Celtic's Callum McGregor, here challenged by James Tavernier , has pleaded with supporters to "stay together" (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)
Celtic's Callum McGregor, here challenged by James Tavernier , has pleaded with supporters to "stay together" (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

The 27-year-old understands that scattergun criticism over every aspect of the 10-in-a-row chasing club was a given following their meek showing in their 2-0 defeat by Rangers at the weekend. However, with AC Milan to visit Glasgow’s east end in the teams’ European League curtain-raiser on Thursday, McGregor believes Celtic’s cause is best served by the club’s support keeping their powder dry.

“We have to keep the faith, trust the manager and what we are doing,” he said in speaking to the club’s website on the derby defeat that has allowed Steven Gerrard’s men to open up a four-point gap, having played a game more. “We have been here loads of times before and have loads of experience. We are by no means out of it.

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“When you lose a derby game there are questions asked and we have to face up to that. We did it in December and kicked on from there. We have to take that experience, learn from this and go on a run. We have to take confidence from what happened last time. What I would say is that we have to stay calm and we have to stay together. The sooner we can get the fans back into the stadium, the better, as they are a massive help to us.”

The enforced absences of Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie, James Forrest, Christopher Jullien, Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed for a variety of reasons at the weekend left Celtic seriously weakened. And McGregor says it affected the psychology of the home team in a manner that should not have been allowed to happen.

“Sometimes when you are missing those key players then, subconsciously, you do have that little doubt that shouldn’t be there,” he said, “But we all have to accept the responsibility as a team when we don’t play well. We need to put our foot to the floor and the good thing is we have a massive game against AC Milan this week to get up and running again.”

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