Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes has stated that the Celtic side which beat his team 2-0 last weekend, is the best he has ever faced. McInnes has come up against the Hoops a number of times in his career, and has had his heartbroken by Celtic in several cup finals too. Brendan Rodgers’ invincibles beat his Aberdeen team in both cup finals during the immortal invincible treble winning season, while sides managed by Ronny Deila and Neil Lennon have also given him tough afternoons. Yet, Ange Postecoglou’s team have something unique about them. That’s according to Derek at least.
Speaking to The Scotsman newspaper, after Celtic’s 2-0 victory over his side, McInnes said: “I’ve come here to play against various Celtic teams over the years and maybe none as good as this one.
“I don’t want to be disparaging to that team who proved themselves – they were unbelievably relentless. But this Celtic team have a lot of players at the right age with improvement in them.
“There’s a lot of hunger and intensity about them – they don’t let you breathe. They’re two good teams and it would be wrong to say one is better than the other. But look at their bench today – Turnbull, Giakoumakis, Forrest, Abada and O’Riley. Their age and energy was quite telling in the last 15 minutes when they cranked it up today.”
The teams meet again at Hampden this weekend, in the semi final of the Premier Sports Cup. Looking ahead to that fixture, McInnes said: “They’ve (Celtic) got a lot of answers but we need to find an answer next week and we’re determined to do that.”
