JOHN COLLINS PRAISES CELTIC PLAYERS

JOHN COLLINS has revealed the secret behind Celtic’s success in the second part of a transitional season – simple hard work.

Ronny Deila’s No.2 praised the players for adapting to new demands and tactics while being able to deliver the fourth successive league title and a League Cup.

The 47-year-old former Hoops midfielder said: “I think we are satisfied, but the key word is progress.

“We started slowly which was understandable considering we were getting to know the players and the players were getting to know us.

“But as the months have gone by, we have seen progress in every department. Defensively and attacking-wise, we are creating more chances and scoring more goals, so the second half of the season has been very pleasing indeed.

“I think it was all the hard work on the training pitch. We’ve asked them to do slightly different things like constantly pressing opponents and playing more forward passes.

“Now the foundations are there. The boys know the system we are playing, know what to do when they have the ball and when they don’t have the ball.

“Everyone knows their job within the team and when we lose the ball, there is a responsibility to get it back.

“That’s maybe one thing which took a bit of time instilling into the forward players. When we lose it, you are defenders and you’ve got to hound opponents and force them into rushed passes.

“That brings an excitement to the game and I think the supporters love it and appreciate it.

“We get that from a lot of hard work from our wide players and our forward players who are doing a lot of grafting which takes a lot of energy.

“Those are the players who have been rotated more often than not due to the amount of physical work they put in.

“The homework is done Monday to Friday and the test is the games, so the test results have got better.

“The boys have worked hard and they’ve got their reward.”