Alistair Johnston is sensing a fire within the Celtic squad to make another team ‘feel the force’ of the Bhoys after mid-week disappointment away to Lazio.
Celtic fell to a 2-0 defeat in Rome after a double from Ciro Immobile, with the Bhoys knocked out of Europe before Christmas for the second successive season.
That came off another poor result at home to Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership last weekend. But right-back Johnston reckons that the spirit in the Celtic camp is strong and they are looking to prove themselves this season.
For the Canadian, there are parallels to Celtic’s impressive 6-0 thrashing of Aberdeen in the wake of a dreadful night away to Atletico Madrid.
Celtic will be ‘hot’ against St Johnstone
He said [Celtic FC]: “It’s similar to how we felt before the international window where we went to Atletico Madrid and had a really difficult match there and Aberdeen felt the force. It will be a similar mentality and feeling where we want to come out of the gate strong as that performance in Lazio doesn’t define us and we have more to show.
“It’s a difficult ground to play at and not an easy team either who are physical and strong and can pose a threat. So I think we will come out hot and if we do that then we have the quality to get the result we need.
“It’s a busy Christmas period with a match pretty much every three days and we need to focus on the league. We know the only way to get back into the Champions League is by winning the league and hopefully we can be back next season.”
Every Celtic supporter is eager to see the Bhoys show a reaction to the last seven days. It’s been another testing period for Brendan Rodgers’ squad.
More often than not these players have shown they can bounce back from disappointments. It’s that resilience that makes them favourites to win another league title. We need to see that trait come to the fore again on Sunday.
St Johnstone will fight for points, no doubt, but Celtic’s quality must shine through.
In other news, Celtic team news ahead of St Johnstone as Brendan Rodgers confirms squad status.
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