Anthony Ralston admits credit in the bank doesn’t matter and insists Celtic cut themselves no slack over Ibrox defeat.
The Parkhead defender doesn’t forget his team are deserving champions and in the hunt for a Treble due to their outstanding displays and consistency over the course of an entire campaign. But at the same time Ralston knows that doesn’t mean you can just cast off a poor display as merely a rare bad day at work. The right-back and his team-mates were miles off their levels as their 34-game unbeaten domestic record was crushed by Rangers over the weekend.
Ralston knows the performance was simply not good enough and there are no attempts to try to disguise or dismiss it. He said: “We were not at our best, first and foremost. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have done absolutely terrific this season and we are champions for a reason because consistently over the course of the season we have implemented how we want to play. It’s quite plain and simple, we didn’t do that at Ibrox.
“Where we have got to at this point is through our hard work. Through not accepting our standards dropping. Through relentless training, relentless high standards that we have attained through a course of time.
“That’s not an excuse to cut ourselves any slack. We want the best at all times and we take this at face value.”
Ralston’s searing honesty was impressive when he could easily have pointed to a host of reasons or even excuses had that been his choice. Given the title was wrapped up the previous weekend against Hearts along the M8 at Tynecastle, it was put to the Scotland star that it might have been understandable if there was even a subconscious, if unintentional, drop off.
But Ralston said: “I wouldn’t like to think so, no. It has been completely drummed into us that every game is a new game. It doesn’t matter what we have done, it doesn’t matter what credit you have in the bank.
“It’s about each game, no matter what game it is, performing to the level that we want to perform at. On the day and any other day, it is not acceptable. We move on from it but we analyse it.”
Manager Ange Postecoglou made some changes to his starting line-up on Saturday. Yuki Kobayashi’s inclusion for Cameron Carter-Vickers was down to injury but the boss opted to give starting opportunities to the likes of Alexandro Bernabei and Oh Hyeon-gyu.
Postecoglou claimed afterwards the alterations didn’t help as he reasoned: “It is a tough place to get an opportunity.
“They need to understand what this club’s about. You don’t get an easy ride, you don’t get a cushy introduction into life as a footballer. It is demanding from the moment you put on a shirt to the moment you leave. It is fair to say it wasn’t just about the guys who came in. Obviously the changes I made didn’t help.”
Ralston was in agreement with his boss about the levels and standards demanded. But when asked if changes could be used as a mitigating factor for the below-par show, the defender said: “No because no matter who comes into the line-up, we are all quality players.
“At Celtic, you are expected to be at the highest level at all times when you are called upon. So we will not use any excuses.”
For all Celtic were nowhere near their best, Oh missed a golden one-on-one chance to level at 1-1 when hitting a post and Liel Abada was also not clinical enough with another chance before his team fell 2-0 down.
Ralston said: “We had our chances and that is part of our analysis that we had to take our chances and we didn’t do that. That’s another part.
“But like I have said throughout this conversation, we have our standards and we don’t accept anything less than the standards that we want to produce on a weekly and game-to-game basis.”
Asked about such fine margins deciding games, Ralston continued: “Exactly. And this is football.”
Ralston’s demeanour told an emphatic story of an individual and a camp who were hugely frustrated by the events of Ibrox. Even if the game was meaningless in terms of trophies, derby defeat still hurt as Ralston said: “Yeah, definitely. But even that aside, it’s the point I’ve made at the beginning, no matter what game it is, we have our own standards and we look to live up to that in every game.”
Ralston revealed he didn’t need to scan the dressing room to feel the dejection afterwards as he said: “We all know. We don’t need to look at anyone or say anything. We all know. So, like I said, we analyse it and we go again.”
Celtic’s defeat was a reminder that, no matter the standards they have hit this term, coming off the pace can be costly.
Ralston did not need to be told that and said: “Football will always remind you. But we have a great group of lads. We have had so much success but we don’t dwell on that success. We have a changing room of lads who want the best at all times. This will be dealt with, it will be analysed and then we can move on.”
