Strachan: We're the Champions League peasants

Last updated : 12 December 2008 By Mikbhoy

"We want to maintain the good run we've been on," said Gordon "We stumbled a bit last week but that happens. You have to deal with setbacks at this club. On Wednesday, we recovered from that blow and won the game. That's down to the players."

He's been pleased with the performance of the squad this season and pleased with the tangible progress in the form of SPL points garnered compared to last December "We're doing okay at the moment. We are seven points better off than we were at this time last season. If we had beaten Hibs last week, it would have been 10 points." said Strachan, "We've put ourselves in a good position at the top of the league, four points clear. If we can stay there for as long as possible, that will help us."

The manager expects more from Hearts than they showed when Celtic won 2-0 at Tynecastle earlier this season. Indeed since that defeat from the Bhoys the Gorgie side have won their last five games on the bounce. "They are a good side," said the Celtic boss. "They are physically strong and the group seems to be more consistent than they have been in the last couple of years. That's helping them."

Strachan hopes that the convincing 2-0 win over Villarreal in midweek will help restore the team's confidence after the Easter Road result last weekend. In fact the boss saw many things throughout the Champions League campaign that pleased him. "We were happy with that performance. We had a lot of good things going on there and it helps us ahead of the Hearts game." he said "I saw a lot of good things over the six European games. There are one or two reasons why we didn't get through, but I don't want to give reasons that are then turned into excuses."

"As things stand, there are about three different groups of clubs in the Champions League." continued the Celtic gaffer "There are those who have plenty of money and are technically brilliant. They are expected to get through. Then you have the next group who have plenty of money to buy players from all over the world, and are from a country that allows you to buy players from all around the world. Then there are teams like us. We are in the group of teams who might need a wee bit of luck to qualify for the last 16. We didn't get those breaks this season."