St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson believes the trip to Celtic Park is the toughest in the fixture schedule as he discussed the ‘non-stop’ dangers of this Hoops side.
The Bhoys go into this evening’s game looking to secure their 20th win of the season in the Scottish Premiership after 22 games.
Just one of these fixtures has ended in a loss for Ange Postecoglou’s side, which came all the way back in late September.
That result came at the hands of Stephen Robinson and his St Mirren side, who defeated the Hoops 2-0 at the SMiSA Stadium.
This evening’s fixture will be the first match between the two sides since Celtic’s one and only defeat in the league in 2022.
Ahead of the Buddies trip to Celtic Park, the St Mirren boss was quizzed about what it took for his team to pull off a shock result around four months ago.
The former Motherwell man outlined what important factors his squad must achieve if they have hopes of pulling off another surprise result.
However, Robinson was extremely wary of Celtic’s threat, agreeing that the trip to the East End of Glasgow was the toughest in the schedule and praising the Bhoys ‘non-stop’ way of playing.
He said [Sky Sports]: “We go to Celtic Park, it’s a really difficult task. We’ve proved we can compete with Celtic; we’ve proved we can compete with the best teams in the country.
“So we go with respect, of course, for a very good side and a top manager. But we go with belief as well.”
When asked if this game was the toughest fixture in the schedule, Robinson responded: “At the moment, yeah it is. They are a very good side, they play with tremendous energy and pace; that’s the bigger thing, they’re non-stop, I said it in the first game.
“We’ve done work on that since we came back in on Monday again. The speed of their turnovers, the speed of their play, their cleverness around the box; it’s something we know about, it’s not a surprise to us.
“We’ve worked on how to stop that, and we’ve also worked on how we can hurt them.”
“Of course it is (different playing Celtic at home than away). You’ve got 60,000 people behind you, big pitch. You know yourself when you play at home, the energy of the crowd drives you on as well.
“So we have to stand up to that. We have to not get caught up in the emotions of the game and play our game, which we done very well at home.
“When people were getting excited or worried when Celtic had the ball, we’ve got to stay disciplined. I’ve spoken to other managers that asked us about the way that we played against them at home. As you do, you’re all looking for an advantage over things.
“The key to it is, you have to keep the ball. You can defend, you’re set and in that shape; it’s when you have the ball that you have to be brave, and you have to buy passes.
“Because if you defend for 96 minutes against them, eventually someone will make a mistake and get punished.”
Celtic will be out to play their usual game rather than focusing on past results.
Having that one defeat on our record for the 2022/23 season is likely a frustration to Ange Postcoglou and his players after such a brilliant start to the domestic campaign.
However, you can guarantee that the Celtic manager hasn’t allowed his squad to dwell on that result going into tonight’s game.
September’s fixture will now be well out of the minds of this Celtic squad, and they will simply be focused on the task at hand and playing their normal game.
For Robinson and his side, the mindset is slightly different. They will be looking to emulate that result, but the pressure is completely off the Saints as they gear up for a visit to Celtic Park.
The Northern Irishman is clearly well aware of the task at hand, it is going to be a tough evening for St Mirren if the Bhoys get into full flow.
Here’s hoping we can pick up another valuable three points at home tonight and put on a strong performance!
In other news, The Celtic vs St. Mirren revenge reality.
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