Celtic crucially secured maximum points today at Parkhead when a hat-trick from Giorgos Giakoumakis against Dundee meant that Celtic took advantage of their city rivals earlier slip up at Tannadice, where they could only muster a 1-1 draw against the Tangerines, meaning the gap at the top of the league has now widened to 3 points.
Today seemed to be the day the Greek striker finally won around any remaining Celtic fans who doubted his abilities in the past but unfortunately his post match comments have lead to him receiving a backlash from certain sections of our fan base.
After the match while speaking to the media, Giakoumakis was brutally honest in his opinions that he believes Celtic are the best team in the league and that we will win the championship. This has caused a stir amongst some Celtic supporters who have blasted the player claiming this type of talk should be kept in the changing rooms and that his words will be used to fire up theRangers.
Speaking post match, Giakoumakis said regarding theRangers playing earlier in the day:
“It’s a big motivation but sometimes there’s a little bit of pressure if you know the bad result of your opponents. We showed we are a better team, that’s obvious, we showed we work harder in the field and I think we will win the championship. It’s something that we really want for us and the fans.”
He then discussed the hard work the squad puts in at Lennoxtown and thinks that endeavour will lead to Celtic winning many things this season. He also mentions the strength of the squad and the fact that there is competition for places in every part of team. He added:
“First of all we have a strong squad. Any player of ours can be in the first XI and make a difference to help the team. We work a lot, we work hard in the training centre and we show that in games. With this hard work we can achieve many things.
“The squad is really good, I think it’s the best in the league and we’re a well prepared team for every single game. We have a very good plan and we try to stay committed to the plan and we’re better in every single part of the team.”
I can understand people’s opinion on the matter but for me it was refreshing to hear a player being honest about how he feels. Football has become too watered down in this respect with players expected to give bland, uninteresting responses to questions. Modern day footballers rarely say anything that hasn’t been approved by the club which means we rarely get a glimpse of the players actual personality. Giakoumakis is clearly someone who has confidence in himself and his teammates and isn’t scared to broadcast it.
Also Giakoumakis is right. We are the best team in the league. He should think we are going to win the championship. Otherwise he has a weak mindset and shouldn’t be at a huge club like Celtic.
Oh but hold on he has just lit a fire under theRangers!
If they need the words of our big striker to ignite their motivation in a season where the prize for winning is as great as it could possibly be with automatic entry into the Champions League then they are even more mentally weak than we imagined. I’m not one for this ‘back of the bus’ mentality were we talk ourselves down. Giakoumakis thinks we are the best team in the league and had no qualms in stating so. Fair play to him.
I, for one, am certainly not going to have a go at the player for doing so. In fact I enjoyed hearing him speak so confidently. It’s up to him and his teammates to show the pretenders from across the city and their fans, who you can guarantee will be up in arms about the outlandish disrespect shown towards ‘the champions’, that we back our talk up with action. Bring it on.
Conall McGinty
