Celtic manager Gordon Strachan insists fear lay behind the Hoops' fans disgruntlement in last week's 1-0 home defeat to Motherwell.
There was a chorus of boos when top scorer Scott McDonald was replaced in the second half by Georgios Samaras as Celtic chased an equaliser.
A vociferous section of the Celtic support then turned on Strachan near the end of the game which was eventually won by a Simon Lappin strike.
A run of one victory in seven matches has seen Celtic crash out of Europe and the Scottish Cup and fall seven points behind Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers, who have a game in hand.
And former Coventry and Southampton manager Strachan finds himself under pressure going into the return match against the Steelmen at Fir Park on Sunday.
Strachan, who refused to take questions on the subject of fringe player Derek Riordan who recently savaged him in the press, had no complaints about the negative reaction of some Celtic fans last week.
"It's understandable," Strachan said. "When people are scared they react in different ways and that's understandable.
"I don't have any beef with that."
Strachan put his side's recent results down to "freak circumstances" and, as in recent weeks, he trotted out a set of statistics to back up his theory.
He said: "In the five games we have played recently, the total attempts on target from our opponents has been six, possibly seven.
"For Motherwell's goal last week, Artur Boruc saved the first shot and the other guy put it in, so that can be one or two shots, whatever you want.
"If you count it as one shot, then that's six shots against us in five games. People will say that's only statistics but people throw statistics against us.
"Three of the shots went into the net which means Artur has only had three saves to make in five games.
"If you had a defensive coach, he would be more than happy with that. It's just freaky circumstances at the moment.
"The big statistic is not scoring enough goals but we are good enough to know that once we start scoring goals then you will look at the performances as being terrific."
"We just need to start scoring goals and once we score goals, the world becomes a different place.
"It would only be reward for what the players are trying to do.
"And once they do that then the players will be feeling more confident in front of goal."
A vociferous section of the Celtic support then turned on Strachan near the end of the game which was eventually won by a Simon Lappin strike.
A run of one victory in seven matches has seen Celtic crash out of Europe and the Scottish Cup and fall seven points behind Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers, who have a game in hand.
And former Coventry and Southampton manager Strachan finds himself under pressure going into the return match against the Steelmen at Fir Park on Sunday.
Strachan, who refused to take questions on the subject of fringe player Derek Riordan who recently savaged him in the press, had no complaints about the negative reaction of some Celtic fans last week.
"It's understandable," Strachan said. "When people are scared they react in different ways and that's understandable.
"I don't have any beef with that."
Strachan put his side's recent results down to "freak circumstances" and, as in recent weeks, he trotted out a set of statistics to back up his theory.
He said: "In the five games we have played recently, the total attempts on target from our opponents has been six, possibly seven.
"For Motherwell's goal last week, Artur Boruc saved the first shot and the other guy put it in, so that can be one or two shots, whatever you want.
"If you count it as one shot, then that's six shots against us in five games. People will say that's only statistics but people throw statistics against us.
"Three of the shots went into the net which means Artur has only had three saves to make in five games.
"If you had a defensive coach, he would be more than happy with that. It's just freaky circumstances at the moment.
"The big statistic is not scoring enough goals but we are good enough to know that once we start scoring goals then you will look at the performances as being terrific."
"We just need to start scoring goals and once we score goals, the world becomes a different place.
"It would only be reward for what the players are trying to do.
"And once they do that then the players will be feeling more confident in front of goal."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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