Celtic boss Ronny Deila insists it is vital to keep focus after Scottish Cup win
Sunday 6 March 2016 17:04, UK
Celtic manager Ronny Deila insists it has been vital to remain focused amid the recent criticism of his team, as he aims to lift the mood of the club's fans.
The Hoops dropped four points in their last two Scottish Premiership matches against Dundee and Hamilton, but bounced back with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Morton in the Scottish Cup.
First-half goals from Leigh Griffiths, Gary Mackay-Steven and Callum McGregor were enough to secure a place in the semi-finals at Hampden in April and they were later handed a showdown with Rangers when the draw was made.
And following some recent laboured performances, Celtic looked brighter from the start of the match as they pressed Morton and shifted the ball quick when in possession of the ball.
The home fans certainly appeared to enjoy the performance, and Deila remains confident Celtic can improve their form quickly after they secured a fourth domestic cup semi-final under his tenure.
Deila said: "It is much better to get applause than a boo, that's for sure. Hopefully that is going to continue.
"We could have played without any fans because it is about loving playing football and we wanted to bounce back after a performance we weren't happy with.
"But I think the fans here were good. They stood behind the team and I was happy with that.
"They were happy afterwards, I recognised that and it was something to take with us.
"We have to build up our trust with the fans and they will support us even better, it is a win-win situation.
"I'm my biggest critic here but I've been in this game a long time and when everything is crazy around you, you have to stay calm.
"It's a game of football. We have everything in our hands. The players here are winners and hate losing or performing bad and they wanted to show themselves from another side today.
"I'm proud of how they did it, it's something we'll build on and I'm happy for the players that they played the way they did.
"Now we are in our fourth semi-final in two years and that's quite a good thing. Hopefully we can get into the final without any red cards and kick on."
Ahead of the draw against Rangers, Deila insisted he had no preference over who the Hoops faced in the final four, stating that his team have only one thing on their mind.
"For me it's about winning the trophy, that's the important thing, and we'll take what comes in front of us," Deila said.
"We have to beat everybody to win the trophy and we're eager for that. Now we have two games left and hopefully we can win it."
Morton boss Jim Duffy was pleased with the way his side kept going after the break when the tie was effectively over.
He said: "I was disappointed in the first couple of goals, Celtic have enough quality to create and score goals without us handing them to them, and we gifted them the first two.
"They won the game relatively comfortably and I can't deny that but from my point of view we were organised as best we could be, we worked really hard and there was a terrific attitude from the players.
"We asked them at half-time to show a bit of bottle and character and not capitulate and although we got one two breaks when Celtic hit the woodwork, I thought they stuck to their task very well and they deserve a bit of credit for not throwing the towel in."
