Bullish Gordon Strachan has hit back at critics of Celtic and urged everyone to "calm down a wee bit" after defeat to Rangers.
The Hoops crashed out of the Scottish Cup at Ibrox and will now go without a trophy for the first season since 2011.
Despite the 2-0 defeat to their Glasgow rivals compounding the fans misery of a failed 10th consecutive title bid, Strachan was quick to defend the players.
The former Parkhead boss insisted the players can take credit from the performance, first telling Premier Sports: "(Allan) McGregor was the man of the match.
"The sitting midfield player (Steven Davis) was the man of the match.
"So Celtic must've been doing things right. I agree, to a certain extent, about the middle of the park.
"Once they got into wide positions, where it be full-back or Aribo and Kent, Rangers did much more with that.
"That was the difference, they did much more with that. But from a Celtic point of view, a couple of goals could've been stopped, that's for sure, if they'd thought about it.
"If they kept their focus they could've stopped those goals."
Strachan then moved on to a more overarching defence of the club - insisting that the dethroned champions hadn't turned into a bad team over night.
With the futures of key men like Odsonne Edouard and Kris Ajer up in the air, Strachan warned against assuming they would walk away from the club after a disappointing campaign.
He went on: "The rest of it; it's not like Rangers have suddenly decided they're the only team that's got any get-up about them, any drive and wanting it more.
"They've been behind for nine years! Don't suddenly tell me they wanted it more than all those guys out there.
"It's an embarrassment to say 'well they wanted it more' because I know there are boys out there trying. They had to be trying to get all these chances.
"So, let's calm down a wee bit. We also don't if Edouard's leaving, Ajer's leaving or that one's leaving. It's all hearsay.
"So we're all just chucking hearsay around.
"It's up to them to sign new deals. If they get good deals they might.
"Celtic have always bought players to keep it going, because people want to keep it going.
"So, it's not a complete disaster from one side as I keep saying to you.
"McGregor, man of the match, brilliant. To win things you need a top goalkeeper.
"That's one of the things Celtic haven't had, they've been chopping and changing. Centre-backs have been chopping and changing, full-backs chopping and changing.
"So that's been a problem. If you go back to the beginning of the season, when they had their heads turns. Some moved on, some didn't and some took a long time to recover.
"As a manager of a club you have to put that in your locker and remember, that never happens."
The ex-Scotland boss then launched a defence of criticism of the likes of Scott Brown, adding: "You've got to look at the bigger picture.
"One of the things I get annoyed about, if I was a Celtic player - Brown, McGregor, Christie who have all been winning things - they've suddenly become weak personalities?
"I think that's wrong to say that, to tar everybody with that brush. To get nine championships, quadruple Treble.
"To suddenly say, they're all rubbish and the other team are great?"
