FOOTBALL

MOWBRAY DEFENDS SHOT-SHY HOOPS

MOWBRAY: Ignoring statistics

Thursday November 5,2009

By Iain Macfarlane

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(0)

TONY MOWBRAY last night dismissed Celtic's tag as Europe's most shot-shy team

Ahead of tonight's must-win Europa League clash with Hamburg, UEFA stats have the Hoops at the bottom of the league table when it comes to firing shots on goal.

In their three Europa League games , the Bhoys have managed just 13 strikes on target and picked up one point to lie bottom of Group C.

But Bhoys boss Mowbray Ð with hitman Marc Antoine Fortune back in with a shout of facing the Germans Ð couldn't give a hooy about the UEFA number crunching.

He admitted: "I'm not interested to be honest. "Someone told me another stat on the way over that Juventus have scored three goals in four games and have eight points in the Champions League.

"As I'm constantly reminded it's about the result really.If we'd had three shots in three games and won every match 1-0 we'd all be sitting here happy.

"If it's a UEFA thing, then ok, but in the last week we've probably had 60 shots on goal in two games. "But it's all about how many goals you score and if the team wins.

"Privately with my staff I constantly look at shots, crosses, possession of the ball, are we threatening enough and how is the performance built.But ultimately the only stat that counts is how many times you stick the ball in the opponent's net and can you win.

" I think we competed against a good Hamburg team in the last game and could've got a positive result.We've been in every game we've played so far in Europe but things have not fallen our way and we've suffered bad luck in the nature of the goals we've lost.

"I'm philosophical about things. I've enjoyed competing in Europe, apart from the results.We could've gathered six or seven points, but we haven't and we need to accept that fact."

Fortune is back to boost the Hoops options after coming through 20 minutes against Killie on Saturday.