Celtic captain Callum McGregor reflected on the complacency that saw the Hoops lose 1-0 to bottom-of-the-table Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Sunday afternoon.
The Celtic skipper was unable to lead the team one step closer to the Premiership title, and that was clearly a frustration for McGregor.
He said: (TCW), “My role as captain is trying to guard against as much complacency as possible.
“It’s trying to get the most out of the players, trying to lead by example of the senior players when we get to the pitch, we have to drive the intensity of the whole thing, which to be fair, in the main, we’ve done really well, it is obviously a sore one to lose this game.
“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, that’s the way it looks and it’s not a good look.
“Do we still have work to do? One hundred per cent and that’s the bit like I’m saying, it’s inevitable, the noise, some of it will probably seep in, but it’s our job to try and make sure that that we are professional and we do the job that’s in front of us and then we can enjoy it once we’ve crossed the line.
“There is still a lot of football to be played.”
It sounds like, for McGregor, keeping a number of his teammates motivated is proving a challenge—something that he has rarely had to deal with during his time at Celtic.
For McGregor and Rodgers, they are a captain and manager duo who have seen almost everything in football, but this level of complacency is frustrating them, just like it is the Celtic support. Very few would question that they are both doing their best to fix it, but it’s clear that others have to start stepping up as well.
