RONNY DEILA insists Celtic will pile on the title pressure as they aim for five-in-a-row.
Crisis club Aberdeen are wilting under the strain and have lost three consecutive games, including the embarrassing 5-1 flop at home to St Johnstone at the weekend, with pressure on Derek McInnes to turn things round or face the chop. How many consecutive defeats before his future is mentioned in the MSM, or is he still their front runner for manager of the year? Certainly the Aberdeen supporters are not happy with their gaffer, judging by their online forums.
The Hoops have cut their advantage at the summit to a single point after their hard-fought 2-1 win over stuffy Hamilton at New Douglas Park yesterday.Deila’s men were five points behind just nine days ago, but slashed the deficit in 180 minutes with Derek McInnes’s side suffering back-to-back league defeats against Inverness Caley Thistle and the Perth Saints. At the same time, they have toppled out of the League Cup, beaten by Championship outfit Hibs.
The Parkhead boss said: “It’s very encouraging. We are breathing down their necks and we will keep pushing.“It’s a bit early to feel pressure. We have only played 10 games. We will push on and talk at the end of March and see who is in the title race and who is not.”
Deila also insisted his team don’t get enough credit for their ability to cope with the demands placed upon them week-on-week. They battled past Accies just over 60 hours after finishing their gruelling Europa League tie 2-2 against Fenerbahce.
He said: “At 1-0 down on Sunday, we were very effective. It was a day to fight for the points and come through it.
“We have played a lot of games and the players are tired and have issues to handle. We showed character and discipline to come back and win.
“Here, we were a bit lucky. But in other games we have been unlucky.
“We should have beaten Hearts 4-0 and won at Kilmarnock so, in the end, you get what you deserve.”
He added: “Of course, we also say that we are the best. But I don’t think people understand how tough it is for us to win every week.“We play two times a week and we have international players. We have two-and-a-half days between games so it’s a very good performance to have seven wins, two draws and one defeat. That’s better than last season and we will now push on.”
Skipper Scott Brown said: “That was a perfect weekend. We got a great result on Saturday with St Johnstone winning at Pittodrie and we got a great result against Hamilton.
“We knew they would mix it up with us, but we were ready for that. We can handle ourselves and we dug in for the three points on this occasion.”
