Celtic not bothered by humiliating loss

CELTIC skipper Paul Lambert has vowed that the Scottish side’s humbling loss to Manchester United will not affect their preparations for the new season.

A decent build-up to the forthcoming campaign, which included a win over Fulham at Loftus Road last week, came to an abrupt halt in the unfamiliar surroundings of the Seahawks Stadium in Seattle as Martin O’Neill’s side found themselves mesmerised by United’s superior brand of football.

Celtic started brightly and could justifiably claim Alan Thompson’s first-half penalty miss, which would have brought them level, proved to be the turning point.

However, that would mask some severe deficiencies, particularly in defence, which ensured United finished comfortable 4-0 winners.

Ulrik Laursen in particular was woeful. The Dane was caught flat-footed for two of the Red Devils’ three first-half strikes and was replaced by Johann Mjallby at half-time.

Laursen’s new defensive partner Stanislav Varga did not fare much better. The Slovakian was hustled out of his stride early on by Ruud van Nistelrooy and never recovered.

With their opponents quelling the early fire of Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson, Thompson fading after his penalty failure and Stilian Petrov unable to build on a bright opening, Celtic finished well beaten.

And, with a Champions League qualifying tie, almost certainly against Lithuanian outfit Kaunas, to be played at the end of the month, confidence needs to be restored in the final game of the club’s short tour of America against Boca Juniors on Friday.

Lambert is convinced when the real work starts, Celtic will not be found wanting.

“One game will not make a difference to us,” he said.

“The real questions will be asked when we start our competitive fixtures and this defeat won’t put us back in our preparation. It’s a disappointing result but we have to put it out of our heads and get on with it.”

Optimistic noises about advancement in the wake of their UEFA Cup Final defeat in Seville seem to have fallen on deaf ears and unless O’Neill starts recruiting fast, it appears Celtic will go into next season with virtually the same squad that ended the last.

O’Neill is not too concerned about that because he feels his team will not be forced to face the collective and individual quality United possess on a regular basis.

“On their day Manchester United are as good a side as any in Europe,” said O’Neill.

“We didn’t help ourselves with some sloppy defending yesterday but their finishing was absolutely clinical and you have to give them credit for that.”