Strachan: Now we're seeing Maximum Donati
By Mikbhoy
Updated Friday, 14th November 2008
Gordon Strachan isn't getting too carried away with the fact that his injury ravaged side has just gone four points clear of their city rivals Rangers in the Scottish Premier League table but he is willing to enthuse over the form of his squad.
"A four-point lead will be worth talking about when there's only one game left to play in the championship." said the Celtic boss of the seven point turnaround between the top two "I know that form and results can change just as quickly as they arrive but I have to congratulate the players for going nine games in a row without dropping a point."
Over and above the results they've achieved the manager has been impressed by the quality and style that the side have maintained during an extremely tough run of games despite seeing many key players dropping out through injury. "Their attitude was spot on against
Kilmarnock because it wasn't a night when the stadium was buzzing." he said "The players had to work at getting the crowd on their side and they did that with variation in their play and the enthusiasm to carry it off."
"I was very impressed by Donati" said the manager "I thought that was the right kind of game for him. He has got a lot in his locker - he can switch play quickly and can see forward passes. Sometimes you need that against teams at home. Massimo has been terrific around the place even when out of the team - and that's the reason we pick him. People seem a bit surprised because he has come from nowhere a couple of times, but his performances in training have been absolutely fantastic."
"It's now just about taking those training performances on to the big stage regularly." the Celtic boss said "But we cannot guarantee him, or anyone else, a game. Paul Hartley was probably Man of the Match on Saturday and was left out of the team on Wednesday. It has taken Massimo time to adjust to the SPL, but you could also have said the same about Stilian Petrov. He took a year to get settled here. There are loads of guys who have taken a wee while to settle and then flourished. That's why you should never decide on who is a good player and who is a bad player within two or three months - but people do that anyway."
Strachan may have mentioned the nine-in-a-row SPL wins but he doesn't have time to look back and savour them. "Do I have time to enjoy this run of victories? Not really because we were all back in first thing this morning, working and talking about the next game." he said "All I can ask of the players is for them to keep doing the same. I can't ask them to try any harder because they are giving us everything. The players who have come in have done fantastic jobs. Our performances have not declined because of bringing new people in."
"In football emotions are instant and then they instantly disappear,' continued the manager "You are always looking at the next game. We have a lot of games coming up and we are trying our best to make sure the players are right both mentally and physically. As long as we do that, then we usually know enough about the opposition to be pretty sure about what's coming."
