James Forrest explains what Celtic did differently vs St Johnstone compared to draw last August

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Celtic comfortably swatted St Johnstone aside at Parkhead yesterday to kickstart a weekend of St Patrick’s Day celebrations in exciting fashion.

The Bhoys spurned several chances in the first half; however, Kyogo Furuhashi’s excellent movement ensured his side entered the changing room with a lead after latching on to a cross from Nicolas Kuhn to head past Dimitar Mitov.

All too often, Celtic have struggled to capitalise on a slender lead at home, leading to some uncomfortable finishes in the latter stages of matches.

Nevertheless, that wasn’t to be the case yesterday, as Brendan Rodgers’ men doubled their advantage in the 46th-minute courtesy of a role reversal, as Furuhashi squared to a grateful Kuhn who couldn’t miss.

Club icon James Forrest rolled back the years just before the 70-minute mark, taking in a sweeping pass from Matt O’Riley before leaving Mitov with no chance as his left-footed effort nestled in the bottom corner.

Rodgers’ men turned in a dominant performance, and the Irishman felt a sense of pride following a convincing day’s work at Parkhead.

He stated post-match: “I’m very pleased, it was a very good performance. The whole stadium, it felt really good today and really connected. From the first whistle, the supporters got behind the team and got their rewards. We scored three goals and could have had more.”

James Forrest opens up on what Celtic did differently yesterday

Last August, Celtic faced St Johnstone at Parkhead and failed to break down their defence in a 0-0 draw despite having 75% possession and 19 shots on goal, five of which were on target [BBC Sport].

This time around, the Bhoys recorded an Expected Goal total of 3.89 and looked to be far more ruthless in the final third, something which veteran winger Forrest has elaborated on in a revealing post-match interview [Fotmob].

Forrest opened up on what Celtic did differently from their frustrating endeavour last August, stating [Celtic FC YouTube]: “We’ve played St Johnstone here at the start of the season, and we drew 0-0, but today I think we created chances and we scored a few offside goals.

“We managed to get three; we had a good few other chances; we could’ve scored more as well. I think it’s positive, and maybe the only negative is we conceded the goal, but I think there’s a lot of good positives to take from that, and once we come back from the international break, we can go again.”

Celtic put in a professional showing against St Johnstone and had no problem in cutting open Craig Levein’s side. On the same token, we have now scored 14 goals in our last three home matches, which is surely a cause for optimism moving forward.

Over the next couple of weeks, Rodgers’ men have a chance to reflect and recharge before facing Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Arena at the tail end of March.