DEREK McINNES, the Aberdeen manager, insists it is no surprise to him that his Celtic counterpart, Ronny Deila, has come under increasing criticism as the season has developed.
McInnes knows the environment in Glasgow well, having spent almost five years as a player at Rangers, and can sense just how the temperature has risen inside Celtic Park with Deila’s side losing to Ross County in the semi-finals of the League Cup and suffering a 2-1 defeat at Pittodrie in the league.
Aberdeen are level on points with the defending champions having played a game more and he believes any Celtic manager must accept that negativity is inevitable if results are not being delivered.
“I don’t think you are ever surprised by anything,” said McInnes. “It is the nature of the job. It is very unusual for Celtic to lose two games on the spin.
“For any manager, there are different levels of expectation and different levels of pressure. Being the Celtic manager, you have to expect that sometimes.
“I still think there are a lot of good players at Celtic Park and they have shown up until recently that they have been in decent form. It is the same at any club. If results don’t come, everyone expects that bit more. I don’t think it is too unusual.
“We are in an industry where we expect to be criticised. If we don’t expect to be criticised, we probably shouldn’t be in it.”
Aberdeen have taken 26 points from their last 10 league games with McInnes demanding they maintain such consistency, but he insists he will not be making any rash claims over what they can achieve this season.
“That is the challenge,” said McInnes in an interview with BBC Radio Scotland. “Over the last two and a half years, we have been a team that has gone on strong runs at different parts of the season.
“It is important now that we are on a run that we keep confidence and momentum within the team.
“If we can better last season’s points total, it will be good going for us. It was a record points tally for a team outwith the Old Firm in the SPL, but there was still a feeling from outside that we underachieved or never gave everyone a title race.
“It was more than good enough for me and, if we beat that this year, it will be more than good enough for me again.
“If I start to look too far ahead, it sends out the wrong message to my players.
“Talk is cheap and it is easy to say certain things. I am not going to start saying this and that to please people.
“My players are knocking their pan in at the moment to stay competitive and keep us close to Celtic.”
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