Celtic skipper Callum McGregor has sent a stark reminder to his teammates that nothing is won yet, warning against any creeping complacency following Sunday’s surprise defeat to St Johnstone.
The 1-0 loss at McDiarmid Park was Celtic’s fourth league defeat of 2024, a sharp contrast to last year’s unbeaten domestic run. While the Hoops remain firm favourites to lift a fourth successive title, McGregor made it clear the group must rediscover their hunger and urgency to finish the job properly.
Celtic remain six points from being mathematically crowned champions with six fixtures left to play. But McGregor, who has lifted the league trophy nine times in the last ten seasons, isn’t interested in hearing about title parties until the hard work is done.
He said: [RecordSport]
“Football’s got a funny way of keeping you honest, everybody is talking, you hear the noise of when are you going to win the league, we have to perform to make sure that we get over the line.
“We’ve put ourselves in an unbelievable position with so many games to go.
“People then start thinking it’s inevitable that you’re just going to turn up and it’s going to happen and that’s the bit where we give away the goal and then because of the way the game turns out, then that’s the way it looks and it’s not a good look.
“So we have to snap out of that straight away. And next week we have to perform better for 90 minutes, get the win, and then see where that takes us.
“It’s difficult to get over the line when you’re so close and obviously the points difference is, there’s a fair margin in it, but we then still have to be doing everything we can to sprint over the line rather than just waiting for it to happen.”
Celtic were second-best for large spells in Perth, punished early by Daniels Balodis’ header and never able to claw their way back despite dominating possession. The lack of a ruthless edge has been a recurring theme since the turn of the year, and it needs sorted before the Kilmarnock match.
Rodgers and his players will now face a defining few weeks – not just to wrap up the league, but to ensure they enter the Scottish Cup semi-final with confidence and cohesion fully intact.
