Liam Scales spoke to the media at Celtic Park today before Brendan Rodgers’ Media Conference ahead of tomorrow night’s ‘must win’ Europa League match against Austrian side SK Sturm Graz under the lights at Celtic Park…
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- Liam Scales
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- Brendan Rodgers
Conor Spence was there asked a few questions for The Celtic Star and we’ve flagged up his questions in both media conference articles. Here’s everything that was said as Liam Scales spoke to the media including The Celtic Star…
Q: Could you bring us up to speed on where the squad is at the moment after the weekend, and the mindset going into this one?
Liam Scales: “There was disappointment after the game, but that’s gone now because we need to focus on the game tomorrow. Obviously, we don’t want to lose games. We know what’s expected of us, but we’re fully focused on tomorrow now, so that disappointment is behind us. It was a normal training day today, and we just hope to put things right tomorrow.”
Q: You say that’s gone, but fans are beginning to get worried about the trend of this team not scoring enough goals or creating enough chances. Is it easy to just dismiss that result, or do you have to get into the crux of why this is happening week in, week out?
Liam Scales: “Yes and no. Obviously, we’re having issues. We’re not scoring as many goals as we’d like in the last couple of games, and we’ve conceded too many. But you really don’t have time to dwell on it. We need to try and make it right tomorrow, and that’s it. Maybe if we had more time, there would be a bit more thought going into it, but right now we’re fully focused on doing the right things to get a good result tomorrow.”
Q: Is there a confidence issue at the moment?
Liam Scales: “I don’t think there’s a confidence issue. I think it’s just been tough. We’ve had chances that we might have missed, and we just haven’t clicked. There could be a lot of reasons for that, and we’re just really working on getting that right.”
Q: The manager’s comments after the game have caused a bit of a stir, referring to Honda Civics rather than Ferraris. From a player’s perspective, what did you make of that?
Liam Scales: “Look, I didn’t even really know about those comments. I don’t look at football outside of the team, and I didn’t know about them until I was told they might be asked in this press conference. So that’s how much it was thought about by me, at least. I don’t know about others in the dressing room, but for me, it’s not going to affect me, and it wasn’t a talking point among the players. We know it was a disappointing result, and if that’s a way to motivate people to do better, then that’s the only way I could really look at it.”
Q: What way do you think the fan protests are affecting the players at the moment?
Liam Scales: “I don’t think they’re affecting the players. We know the fans are behind us. They want us to win just as much as we want to win. Obviously, the protests aren’t directed at us. There’s a slight distraction when things are thrown onto the pitch, but once that’s over, it’s like a stoppage for an injury. Once the whistle goes again, you’re back in the game. It didn’t distract us from the football, I suppose. But no, I don’t think it’s had much effect; it hasn’t had much effect on me.”
Q: Can you talk us through what’s going through your mind at that stage in the game, as it was so early on, when things are being thrown onto the pitch? You’ve got yourself up for the game, and now you need to stop and go again.
Liam Scales: “It didn’t really affect us. As I said, it’s like if someone went down injured and there’s a three- or four-minute stoppage. I look at it the same way — once that whistle goes again, you’re back in action, and that was it.”
Q: There seems to be a long-term narrative around the club about recruitment. What impact does that have on the players? From the outside, it seems like there must be awareness, especially given the protests against the board. Does that impact confidence or general well-being within the club?
Liam Scales: “No, definitely not. We’re just here to do the job on the pitch. We don’t worry about anything outside of that. We have no control over recruitment, fans, or anything like that. All we control is what’s on the pitch. We’re just trying to do better, really and be successful and put in the performances that we know we can.”
Q: The manager talked about finding solutions. What do you, as players, see as the solution to get consistency in performances and results?
Liam Scales: “I think everyone just needs to buy into the system that we want to play and get back to basics, running more than the opposition, being more clinical, faster, and more decisive. At both ends of the pitch, too and not just attacking, but defending as well. We’ve conceded a few goals in the last couple of games that we’re not happy with, so it’s about being more decisive and doing the basics better. Outworking the opposition is massive for us, bringing intensity to our game. I think maybe that’s dropped a little, and it’s hard to put a finger on why, but we know that’s what we need to do to improve.”
Q: How pivotal is tomorrow night in terms of picking up three points, given the way you’ve started this campaign?
Liam Scales: “Yeah, it’s massive. Every game is big for us, but we want to get our first win in the competition, obviously, and we’ve got a good chance to do that tomorrow. We just need to really show up and play well.
The Celtic Star: Callum McGregor said on Sunday that the team is too easy to play against. Would you agree with that assessment?
Liam Scales: “I think, based on the game on Sunday, we probably made it too easy for Dundee. We played into their hands, they set up to be defensive and solid, and they won the game basically through counter-attacks and a set-piece. That’s how they would’ve liked the game to play out, and it did. We didn’t do enough to disrupt that, so yeah, I can see where that came from.”
The Celtic Star: With three tough away games still to come after tomorrow night, would you consider this a must-win game?
Liam Scales: “Yeah, it probably is. Obviously, there are enough games left that if we don’t win tomorrow, we can still win the rest. So it’s not a must-win, but it’s really important for us to get this win. Given where we are now, we need to perform well and get three points on the board.”
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