Martin O'Neill has responded to fan criticism on the back of Celtic's hammering at the hands of Benfica last Thursday night.
The Bhoys lost 4-1 in Lisbon but fell behind by three within 23 minutes, and from there it felt as though the clash was already over.
It was another frustrating European clash for Celtic, who blew a four-goal lead against LASK in their Champions League qualifier then lost 3-1 at home to Ferencvaros in their Europa League clash, which came before the Benfica fixture.
The frustration from fans naturally grew after another poor performance, albeit there was already a clear understanding ahead of the game that Benfica have a much better team, and it was always going to be a tough task to compete.
But O'Neill was positive after the game and pressed home that his side competed much better in the second half, effectively drawing 1-1 in the second 45, although one could argue that Benfica took their foot off the gas knowing they had already won the game.
In a fresh interview with Celtic Player, O'Neill has defended his positive comments after the game.
"Well, the interesting thing you talk about the media, in all honesty, is that I know whatever you say, it'll go whatever way they want it to go," he said. "But I was really positive about the second half.
"I told the players in the dressing room after the Benfica game that that's it, we've got to take the positive side of it, otherwise you just might as well lie down.
"I wasn't widely bothered about what media or fanzines were saying at the end of it all, as long as the players believed it was the most important thing. And they certainly did.
"We had great moments on Sunday, it was lovely to win, it was lovely to score the goals that we did. And now we've got a massive game on Thursday to try and win, to try and get back into that competition."
O'Neill's comments had reason
O'Neill has been guilty of being a little too negative this season. He was stitched up by the Celtic board, make no mistake about that. The recruitment was awful in the summer.
But his response was to doubt whether his side could compete in the Champions League, and it didn't go down well with anyone. The veteran boss has likely learned from that, realising his players haven't responded well to that kind of 'prove the doubters wrong' motivation, so he has switched to a more positive approach and it worked going into Sunday.
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