KOLO Toure held his hands up last night for the schoolboy defending which cost Celtic against Borussia Moenchengladbach. The veteran Ivorian has been outstanding in his young Parkhead career to date but was culpable for the two goals which allowed the German visitors to become only the third side to win at Celtic Park in the Champions League group stages. First he attempted to shepherd the ball out of play only Andre Hahn to keep the ball alive and Lars Stindl to fire in the opener, then Stindl caught him in possession on the half way line, repaying the favour to guide in the clincher. This was Toure's 65th Champions League performance but he chided himself for still being prone to the kind of mistakes which a far younger man might make.
"I have to blame myself," he said. "It was a simple action to put the ball to the side [for the first goal], but I like to keep the ball in play. For the second goal it was the same thing. I don't like to make mistakes but mistakes happen. I'm 35 and making a mistake like a 16-year-old."
Read more: Celtic given a Champions League reality check by classy Moenchengladbach
While goalkeeper Craig Gordon condeded that the goals were avoidable, he said there was no finger pointing about them in the dressing room afterwards. Regardless of how the goals went in, there was also the consolation, or rationalisation, of having lost to a better team on the night. Moenchengladbach went into the match sitting ninth in the Bundesliga table, without a point in the Champions League to their name, and without five first-team regulars, but produced an emphatic performance.
“It’s a team thing," said Gordon. "We accept it together as a group. We are not going to single anyone out.
“Kolo will be fine," he added. "He’ll get his body back in to shape after the game and go again. He’s a great player. You saw three weeks ago when he was fantastic here and one of the big reasons we managed to take a point against Man City.
“No one in the dressing room is pointing any fingers. We will make sure everyone is up and ready to go for the next game [against Rangers in the BetFred Cup semi-final on Sunday].
Read more: Celtic given a Champions League reality check by classy Moenchengladbach
“It’s disappointing," the goalkeeper added. "I don’t think we can have too many complaints. We lost a couple of soft goals but apart from that they were a very good team. Obviously the nature of the goals was disappointing but they came here and played very well.
“Their movement was excellent, they passed the ball very well," he added. "The don’t have any real superstars but they pay within a team structure. They had options on the ball. That’s what we are trying to get to but they carried it out better than us on the night. You have to say they deserved their win."
As well as their German opposition played, Gordon chided himself and his team-mates for not reaching the same levels of intensity they had shown in the 3-3 draw against Manchester City. “We couldn't really get to them to stop them passing like we did three weeks ago against City," he said. "That’s what was disappointing from out point of view.
Read more: Celtic given a Champions League reality check by classy Moenchengladbach
“I’m not sure why that was. Even after the first goal we didn't really get the response we wanted. We were trying to do that again but it was difficult to get to them early enough to put them under pressure. We managed to force a couple of corners but no really sustained pressure. We’ll try to learn from it and come back stronger."
After the Old Firm game on Sunday, Celtic now face the visit to Borussia-Park to take on the same opposition on November 1. “We will be going there to try to win anyway, regardless of this result, " said Gordon. "We knew they would come here and pass the ball, get forward quickly and create chances. There’s no doubt we will have to defend well over there and soak up a lot of pressure. They will have players back who will improve them again so we know we are in for a very hard night."
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