Not many teams will be looking forward to coming to Celtic Park this season.
Despite the constant negativity surrounding Celtic’s transfers, Brendan Rodgers was at pains to point out how well his team were playing before the League Cup tie against Falkirk.
And the Celtic manager was right to. Rodgers named a much-changed Hoops starting XI against a Falkirk side who have been impressing this season so far.
It worked as Celtic blew Falkirk away to progress to the quarter-final of the League Cup. However, for David Martindale’s Livingston, his team’s participation in the competition ended after being dumped out.
And as Martindale was still trying to digest the defeat, a post-match reminder about his upcoming fixture with Celtic annoyed the Livingston boss.
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Thinking about Celtic is now on David Martindale’s mind after BBC man’s reminder
Livingston have had a great start to their return to the Scottish Premiership, sitting with four points just below Celtic and two above Rangers.
And when Martindale was told he has plenty to think about ahead of Livingston’s visit to Celtic Park, he wasn’t best pleased.
Martindale told BBC Radio Scotland [20m 20s], “Cheers for that. I spoke to the players about that. Last year, probably anybody could be our manager last year.
“You’re winning games of football. It’s now when you’re going into the Premiership, you’re getting punished for small mistakes that you never got punished for last year.
“Boys are coming up with individual bits, moments that are incredible, like Mulligan’s one in today.
“So it’s about us dealing with that as a group, and you can only really deal with that when you come in tomorrow morning, have a wee look back where we feel we could have done a little bit better, move on, and then look at the Celtic game and do the same thing.
“Because there’s going to be periods of adversity this season, which never really had that last season, so it’s going to bring different dynamics to us as a group.
“But what we’ve got is coaching staff and a manager that’s been through all this before and knows how to handle it. So, nah, we just brush ourselves down, take it on the chin and move on to the next game.”
David Martindale’s dire record against Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers
Martindale’s Livingston used to be a thorn in Celtic’s side under Ange Postecoglou, but against Rodgers, the West Lothian club’s record is woeful.
- March 31, 2024: Livingston 0 v 3 Celtic
- March 10, 2024: Scottish Cup: Celtic 4 v 2 Livingston
- December 23, 2023: Celtic 2 v 0 Livingston
- September 23, 2023: Livingston 0 v 3 Celtic
Celtic fans will be hoping this trend continues this Saturday as the Hoops look to keep their 100% start to the league campaign going.
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