“It was tough, but it’s in the past now,” Liam Scales on Dortmund dismay

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The Celtic Star

·4 October 2024

“It was tough, but it’s in the past now,” Liam Scales on Dortmund dismay

Liam Scales provided some insight into how the Celtic players have been dealing with the heavy defeat in Dortmund…

Borussia Dortmund vs Celtic Glasgow, Champions League, Matchday 2, 01 10 2024 Dortmund North Rhine-Westphalia.Photo kolbert-press/Marc Niemeyer

The team turn their attentions to the Scottish Premiership match at Dingwall on Sunday lunchtime against Ross County. The Celtic central defender spoke to the media after training at Lennoxtown earlier today Here’s everything that was said by the Republic of Ireland star…

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Q: How do you describe how everyone is feeling after the other night?

Liam Scales: “It was tough, but it’s in the past now, we’ve got an important game coming up at the weekend. We know that if we get good results in the rest of our games then we have a chance of qualifying. It was a tough one to take, but we’re not dwelling on it. We’ve moved on that.”

Q: In a practical sense, what does that look like? One debrief, then everyone decides that it’s parked? Or do you carry on?

Liam Scales: “We do our usual. We have our meetings, and nothing has changed. It doesn’t change when we win big, and it doesn’t change when we lose. We just do what we do and we move on. We are focused on the next game.”

Celtic v Slovan Bratislava – Kasper Schmeichel with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales during the UEFA Champions League, league stage match at Celtic Park on Wednesday September 18, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

Q: How much of a challenge is that when the next game comes up, a different challenge from Europe?

Liam Scales: “It’s a bit of a complicated question. We just focus on the next game, and that’s that. We’re not looking forward to the next game in Europe at the moment. When that comes, we’ll do our best to get a result there.”

Q: What did you learn from being exposed to that level of opposition?

Liam Scales: “I feel like I’ve been exposed to that level before. It was just one of those nights where every mistake was punished and everything went in. It was just a tough night. I’ve been exposed to that level before, it’s a step up to what we play domestically, but we need to be at the top of our game to get anything in the game. We weren’t.”

Liam Scales defends against Chelsea’s midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, on July 27, 2024 (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Q: Is that the challenge, the fact that you’re not facing that level of quality every week?

Liam Scales: “It’s probably a factor, but we have quality. We played better against St Johnstone than we did against Dortmund, and that was the difference. I’m not saying if we played better then we would have won the game, far from it. It’s just about doing as well as we can and maybe being a little bit more secure at times and not as open. Tactically, they played well and the players they had were ruthless. It was a tough night all in but I don’t think that result will define us. I don’t think we’re that far off the level. I think that was a one-off bad result. It happens.”

Q: Do previous domestic results make it easier to park that heading into this weekend?

Liam Scales: “For me, I’m okay now. We have the day after the game to deal with it and it’s not nice, but we’ve started the season so well in the league. We’re unbeaten and we’re doing everything right domestically. It’s easy to adjust and park the other night because of this game. I want to be part of the defence that keeps clean sheets and keeps winning games. Let’s see how long we can go on this run for.”

IMAGO / Shutterstock. Liam Scales of Celtic and Cyriel Dessers of theRangers during the Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park on 1 September 2024 Photo Kirk O’Rourke Shutterstock

Q: How important is it to not let that result affect your confidence levels? After the Slovan Bratislava, the confidence levels would have been high. Does that affect the confidence levels?

Liam Scales: “No, not really. I think we’re confident in our abilities with what the previous result was. We train together every day and we know what our ability is and how high it can be when we’re on it. I think confidence doesn’t really come into it, it’s just about getting to the levels that we need to be at.”

Q: Is analysis helpful after the game, going through what can be improved from the game?

Liam Scales:“We get clips from every single game, whether we win, lose or draw. Things might not be perfect on a coaching level and the coaches go through that with us to improve. That happens every week, that’s in the schedule for us. We watch clips and games back and we see where we can improve. There are parts of the game that we can look at and improve for the next games in the Champions League.”

Celtic v theRangers – James Tavernier and Liam Scales battle for the ball during the Premiership match at Celtic Park on Sunday September 1, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

Q: You mentioned the clean sheets record. Is that a good target as a defender to go for?

Liam Scales: “Definitely. If we keep a good foundation and keep clean sheets, then we’re more than likely going to score goals, which will win us games. It gives us something else to aim for and we’ll try and go on for as long as possible, really.”

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