SAYS TOMMY WRIGHT
TOMMY WRIGHT has sprinkled superlatives all over Celtic and reckons they are better under Brendan Rodgers than ever before.
St Johnstone were the last si d e to defeat the champions in domestic football when they won 2-1 at McDiarmid Park 18 months ago.
This weekend in Perth, they will bid to prevent the current Hoops side entering the record books outright by making it a British best 63 games without loss.
Saints battled hard to take a point at Celtic Park earlier this season but their manager knows the scale of the task after taking in their Champions League match against Bayern Munich earlier this week.
Wright said: “I went to the game and wish I hadn’t. Celtic were brilliant, superb.
“They were awesome and would have been disappointed not to have won against Bayern, never mind drawn.
“It shows the quality of their squad and the size of the task we’re up against.
“The game at Aberdeen last week showed what they’re capable of as they dismantled the team who have been by far the second best in the country over the last few seasons.
“When you have so many good players, they’re more than capable of doing what they have in their last couple of matches.
“Yes, they may have dropped points at home and that’s because other teams are better this season but it doesn’t mean Celtic are any less of a force.
“They’ ll still win the league comfortably because they have the best players.
“History tells you we were the last team to defeat them domestically, 62 games ago.
“However, one of the areas in which they’ve improved this season is their r e sul t s and per f ormances after Champions League fixtures.
“Brendan does not appear to have changed his team as much after European games this season.
“We’re approaching the international break as well, so I would imagine they’ll play their strongest line-up this weekend.”
Still, Wright can take confidence from his team’s performance at Parkhead in August when Steven MacLean’s first-half strike was only equalised by Callum McGregor with 11 minutes to go.
Wright said: “They had more than 30 shots against us in the last game but the majority of them were from distance.
“Our tactics worked and we also carried a bit of luck. Physically, you can’t play a high press against Celtic for 90 minutes.
“You’ve got to be cautious but at the same time also try to win the game.”