CALEY Thistle players watched a re-run of their William Hill Scottish Cup defeat by Celtic – and boss Terry Butcher doesn’t want any repeats at Parkhead this weekend.
The 2-0 home loss against Neil Lennon’s troops on Saturday was described by the ICT manager as "the worst performance of the season" and he and assistant Maurice Malpas read the riot act afterwards.
Rather than forget about the fifth round tie, Butcher sat the squad down to watch the DVD on Tuesday and he feels that will highlight exactly what’s required if they are to stun the Hoops in Glasgow.
Celtic strolled to a 4-0 win away to Hearts away in the league on Wednesday night to equal the record club run set by former boss Martin O’Neill of 16 consecutive domestic victories.
So, Caley Thistle will now be in the firing line of a Celtic team looking to make history at Parkhead on Saturday.
Butcher told the HN: "We could not train on Tuesday afternoon because the pitches were too hard, so we watched the DVD of the Celtic game. We watched it more in regards to how Celtic played rather than how we played. I don’t think their team will change too much, I think Neil Lennon was quite happy with how his team played, but I certainly wasn’t with mine.
"The DVD not only shows what we didn’t do in the game, it tells us what we have to do against Celtic and what we can do on Saturday."
On Tuesday – ahead of their game at Hearts – Hoops defender Adam Matthews was the latest Parkhead star to claim their squad can remain unbeaten for the remainder of the season – and get their hands on that coveted treble of the SPL title, the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup.
However, Butcher said: "The pressure is there for Celtic and Rangers, but particularly Celtic as they are top of the league, to go and win every game.
"They have their own agenda and we certainly have ours. We want to be climbing the league and ensuring that we continue good league form. We’ve done pretty well in the league recently and we want that to continue. If you can beat sides which are third in the SPL (Motherwell and Hearts) in successive matches then you do have something about you."
On Saturday, Ross Tokely’s error lead to Georgios Samaras opening the scoring for Celtic, while David Proctor’s clumsy challenge in the box on Gary Hooper led to Scott Brown tucking away the killer spot kick to take the visitors in the last eight showdown at Dundee United.
Butcher reflected: "Those were schoolboy errors and it was schoolboy defending, but it was so unlike us because we had kept three clean (SPL) sheets in a row. That performance came as a massive blow to us. To give two goals away like that to Celtic leaves you no way back.
"We went to a different formation against Celtic, which the players coped with pretty well and it was basic errors that cost us. The spirit and attitude of the boys is still fantastic. It was a heavy slap in the face last week, but these boys recover well from set-backs, they generally bounce back well and that’s what we’re looking to do on Saturday.
"Generally, we coped OK with Celtic. There were not too many clear passages of play where they cut their way through us. We felt that when we lost 2-0 at Parkhead earlier this season when they scored from two set-pieces. The main thing we learned from last week is that we have to cut errors out and, if someone does make a mistake, there’s someone else there to cover up and ensure that it’s not costly.
"We have beaten ourselves up over the Celtic game, but now is the time to see what we can do, how we can play and how we can beat Celtic or anyone else we’re up against. It’s time to pick ourselves up from this and get on with what we do best. We enjoy going to Celtic Park and we have played well there over the years."
