PAULO BERNARDO insists the Celtic players must accept responsibility to help turn around the fortunes of the champions.
The ire of the raging fans centred on new boss Wilfried Nancy as the team collapsed to Dundee United at Tannadice in midweek for a depressing fourth consecutive loss since the Frenchman’s arrival just over a fortnight ago.
Concerns are rightly being expressed – a little too volatile in some sections, maybe – at the horrible sequence of results that kicked off in Nancy’s debut against Hearts when the side slumped to a 2-1 loss at Parkhead.
That was followed by a 3-0 home loss to AS Roma in the Europa League and the misery continued with a shocking 3-1 flop to St Mirren in the Premier Sports League Cup Final at Hampden on Sunday.
ON THE BALL…Paulo Bernardo is urging for Celtic to work together.
That was compounded by surrendering an interval lead to throw away another three crucial points on Tayside in the side’s faltering pursuit of their fourteenth title in 15 years.
Now the Hoops are preparing for Sunday’s visit of Aberdeen who were hammered 3-0 by Sparta Prague in the Europa Conference League last night.
Acknowledging the players are slowly adapting to Nancy’s tactics and philosophy, Bernardo said: “He believes a lot in his ideas and in himself.
“We need to try to do the same together as a group and find our way through this.
“It’s about momentum. It’s a different system. Celtic, I think, in the last five or six years, have never played as a back five or as three centre-backs.
“It’s a little bit different, but I think we should also do better.
“It’s not all about the coaches. We have accountability together.”
COVER UP…Paulo Bernardo can’t stand to look as Dundee United score their second and winning goal against Celtic at Tannadice in midweek.
Reflecting on the most recent encounter against Jim Goodwin’s team, the Portuguese Under-21 international midfielder, speaking to The Glasgow Times, continued: “I think the first-half was good.
“We should score a lot of goals. We have total control of the game.
“The second half was totally different. Dundee United came for us and we couldn’t play a lot in the first 20 minutes after the turnaround.
“But in the first-half, the ideas of the coach went really well. I think we showed we can hurt the teams a lot.”
Preparing for the challenge of the Dons, Bernardo added: “We need to win all the games, all the time. These games, after losses, are always a big challenge. We always want to bounce back.
“But we are at Celtic, we need to win every championship, every trophy and every game.
“It will be like one more game we need to win, we have to find a solution and change the path of these last games.”
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