St. Johnstone boss rips through players ahead of Celtic clash; called out by Rodgers in 2018

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St. Johnstone manager Steven MacLean is not a happy man and Celtic are looming on his calendar.

The Perth side have started the new season horrendously, losing five of their first six fixtures, with three of those coming against lower league sides.

Saints have already bowed out of the League Cup and sit bottom of the Premiership after back-to-back 2-0 defeats.

Ross County were their opponents on Saturday in Dingwall, with goals from Kyle Turner and Connor Randall doing the damage.

After the game, recently appointed MacLean let rip at his players. You may want to sit down for these quotes.

“Do you know what, we’ve been sitting here for two years,” he said, as reported by Football Scotland.

“Some of those boys have let the club down. Either that, or they’re not good enough. Simple as that. They need to start taking some responsibility. They’ve been protected long enough. Not good enough.

“They’ll need to look over their shoulders. You’ve got so show a hunger and desire to do your job and do the fundamentals. I’d rather play a 16-year-old than have what I saw today.

“There’s only one way out of it. There’s enough experience to know that. I know what I want. I’m comfortable with it. I know what I want to do and hopefully I get the time to do it.”

So we’re two league games in to the season and MacLean is already talking about his players letting the club down. Things don’t seem too far away from a cracked crest at McDiarmid Park.

MacLean’s mood may not improve when he looks at his side’s next fixture: a trip to Celtic Park.

Celtic have Aberdeen on Sunday and Kilmarnock in the League Cup a week later. After that, it’s a home game against the league’s struggling side.

Things may be a little frosty between MacLean and his opposite number Brendan Rodgers too. The Hoops boss called the former forward out during his Hearts days in 2018.

MacLean had just been involved in an unfortunate grabbing incident with Eboue Kouassi that made plenty of headlines.

“I haven’t seen it,” was Rodgers response after the Murrayfield clash. “He does some strange things, Steven MacLean, and says some daft things as well.” (Scottish Sun)

The way things are heading, Saturday 26 August could be a very long afternoon for MacLean and St. Johnstone.

In other news, Ross County defender Will Nightingale was blown away by his experience of Celtic Park last weekend