Joe Hart has been speaking about the Celtic camp’s reaction to Sunday’s cup loss to Kilmarnock.
It was an afternoon to forget for Brendan Rodgers‘ side in Ayrshire as they exited the League Cup at the round they entered.
What made the defeat even more frustrating was the dire nature of the performance, with very few pass marks on the Rugby Park plastic surface.
Hart was in front of the media on Thursday as Celtic prepare to put things right against St. Johnstone this weekend.
“Obviously we were disappointed,” the Hoops goalkeeper said, as shown on the Celtic YouTube.
“It wasn’t a great showing and also to go out of a cup we’ve been very successful in recently is disappointing. But another great opportunity to get back at it and push in the league.
“You try not to react in this game. It’s a long old season with many, many games. We just try and stay as consistent as possible. That’s what we’ve tried this week.
“We’ve got back to what we do best, get a home game which is big for us, and look forward to St. Johnstone.
“When I say it’s not about a reaction, that’s because we’re working to our limit the whole time. It’s not about sitting back and thinking everything is going to be okay.
“There’s not going to be a spike in the reaction because we’re always working to the highest level that we possible can.”
Hart’s words are encouraging. However, fans will be waiting until Saturday afternoon to form a proper judgement on the strength of the Hoops response.
As we covered earlier, this team do have a strong track record of bouncing back after defeats. The likes of Hart and Callum McGregor have the experience to deal with setbacks and, let’s face it, the opposition this weekend could hardly be kinder.
Celtic fans will pack out the stadium once again on Saturday. They will turn up expecting to see a third league win from three, but also a performance worth getting excited about.
After a week of “getting back to what we do best” it will be interesting to see if Celtic are much improved.
In other news, Celtic will be watching as Kieran Tierney now not even included in Arsenal training
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