ANDO:I’LL WORK MY WAY BACK
STEVEN ANDERSON refuses to sugar coat the dip in form that has cost him the captaincy at St Johnstone.
The 31-year-old defender was sent off recently against Rangers and boss Tommy Wright gave Joe Shaughnessy the role of skipper.
However, Anderson is still in line to face Celtic at McDiarmid Park today and if he’s as sharp in his tackling as he is blunt with his talking, the Hoops may not make history after all.
He said: “I’ll keep working away for the team. I’ve had sticky patches before where I have been sh***. I’m my own worst critic.
“It was a shock to lose the armband but I’ve not been playing well so the gaffer is probably right.
“These things happen in football and big Joe deserves it. I don’t think the captaincy adds extra pressure. There are a few extra duties but the boss obviously thought it was affecting me and took it off me.”
Saints haven’t scored in their last five matches and face a Celtic team trying to establish a British record run of 63 domestic games without loss today. But Anderson says the pressure is off his team-mates.
He said: “This is like a free hit. Everyone is writing us off but we are quietly confident we can get something. There will come a time when Celtic do lose and I hope it is against us.
“But we saw what they did at Pittodrie recently against the second-best team in the league – Aberdeen couldn’t get near them.
“It shows the gulf in quality, finances and resources. Look at them against Bayern, they had Leigh Griffiths on the bench and he’s Scotland’s best striker.
“They are even better under Brendan Rodgers, you can see a difference since he came in. With Ronny Deila you always knew you had a chance but now they are way ahead of everyone else.”