Forget Sunday - a semi-final place is up for grabs

26 Oct 2010 - 06:46:17

Ki Sung-yeung wants to look ahead not back According to midfielder Ki Sung-yeung, Celtic must forget the pain of the 3-1 loss to Rangers and look ahead to Wednesday's Co-operative Insurance Cup quarter-final against St Johnstone in Perth. With a league cup semi-final place up for grabs on tomorrow night, Ki is putting events at Parkhead behind him and looking ahead to McDiarmid Park in Perth. Ki said: "I feel very disappointed because we scored the first goal, but gave them three goals in 20 minutes in the second half. We suffered because of a lack of concentration and we made mistakes. But the game has gone now and we have to concentrate on our next game against St Johnstone." Much was made in the build up to the fixture of Celtic's inexperience in the feisty local derby, with six players - including Ki - making their debut in the fixture. South Korea midfielder Ki is determined to learn from and improve upon his performance in the Old Firm derby. He said: "The new players who have not played in the derby can learn from this experience. Then, when we play in the next game, we will be more helpful to the older and more experienced players who played yesterday. I just want to be helpful to the team and try to improve myself as a player. I just try to follow instructions and adapt to Scottish football and that means that I have to get stronger physically, mentally and technically and I have also tried to move the ball faster - these are things I have tried to improve. In training I try to tackle more and defensively I try to work hard. In the gym I am working to get fitter and stronger, while working on my technical skills. If I keep improving and if I keep playing maybe I can show more of these qualities." Meanwhile, Bhoys striker Georgios Samaras will not be punished by the SFA following an incident with Allan McGregor in the game. There was speculation Samaras could be in trouble after appearing to clash with the Rangers goalkeeper during the game. McGregor, himself, was recently given a retrospective ban for aiming a kick at Aberdeen's Chris Maguire. However, the incident with Samaras was deemed not to be violent conduct. The laws of the game state: "A player is guilty of violent conduct if he uses excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball."

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Labels: Forget, grabs, place, semifinal, Sunday

posted by ron @ 2:43 PM