We have games against the likes of Dundee United, Hibs and Aberdeen coming up in the next month or so but this is probably the only home game this season where it won't be terrible if we don't get any points. I've always seen games against the Old Firm as a bit of a free hit - if you get something then great, but if you lose it's not the end of the world because nobody expected you to do anything anyway. Of course, we shouldn't just roll over and gift Celtic the points - we have to make them work for them and not hand them soft goals as we have done in the past. If we put in the effort and cause them a few problems ourselves there's no reason we can't take any points from it.
A few years ago if you'd offered Saints fans one glorious night against Celtic in return for never scoring against them again they'd probably have accepted the deal. That is the situation we now find ourselves in and I must admit it's getting a bit tedious. Thrashing the Hoops 4-0 a few years ago to end Tony Mowbray's spell in charge was fantastic, even if I wasn't there, but Steven Thomson's second goal in that match remains the last time a Buddie found the back of the net against Celtic. It's ironic this has happened as we had similar problems following the famous 3-0 win at Parkhead many years ago. It's time to end that ridiculous run, which now stretches to six games.
Before the international break we suffered a rather disappointing defeat to St Johnstone. It seems that, aside from a 20 minute spell, we were the better team. However, in that spell the Saintees scored twice and we ended up losing. We cannot keep playing in fits and starts and hope it sees us through. Ross County could have been out of sight by half-time a few weeks ago and if we continue to only perform when we want then sooner or later we'll be well out of things by half-time. It wouldn't surprise me if tomorrow is that day, unless we are fully switched on for the whole 90 minutes.
We started that game with a rather odd formation, Steven Thompson, Sam Parkin and Lewis Guy all being deployed from the off. It didn't seem to work and doing the same against Celtic would be suicidal. Parkin seems to be better as an impact player coming off the bench so expect Thompson and Guy to start together up front, with someone like Dougie Imrie or Gary Teale in behind them fulfilling the Paul McGowan role, with the midfielder obviously still missing for the next few months.
We also need to be much tighter at the back than we have been as Celtic will hurt is if we don't watch out. Lee Mair and Marc McAusland must be switched on from the off and we need fullbacks David van Zanten and Paul Dummett to focus on winning the ball and then clearing it rather than getting forward and creating chances. Similarly, we could do without Jim Goodwin getting booked - or at least waiting until late in the game before getting his weekly yellow card. It really affects his game when he's been booked and we could do with that problem being delayed as long as possible. To be honest the longer he stays out of the referee's notebook the more chance we have of getting something from the match.
Celtic have the luxury this season of resting players in the SPL to focus on their Champions League game. They may drop the odd point here and there - as they have done against the likes of Hibs and St Johnstone - but they should still stroll to the SPL title thanks to the absence of Rangers. If they don't have the title tied up by the split it would be a huge surprise. With that in mind Neil Lennon would have been hoping to progress in Europe before they were handed an extremely tough Champions League group featuring Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow. If they manage to take the Europa League spot from that it would be a huge achievement, although beating Spartak away from home a few weeks ago should help their cause no end.
The European stage seems to be where Georgios Samaras produces his best performances. Domestically he is a bit of an enigma, capable of producing the odd moment of genius after spending a few months doing sod all, although he did score the winner against Hearts last time out. Fortunately for Celtic they do have some other rather good strikers. Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper got 50 - fifty! - goals last season between them and Hooper is showing every sign of continuing in that vein this season. Tony Watt has become the latest striker to break into the first team but time will tell if he turns out to be the real deal or just the next Mark Burchill. Perhaps in a bid to cater for the latter problem Lennon signed a few strikers during the transfer window in the shape of Miku and Lassad Nouioui.
Watt isn't the only Celtic youngster receiving plaudits at the moment as James Forrest has also been turning in some spectacular performances. He definitely deserves the praise as he has been producing the goods for the best part of 18 months and has been involved in the Scotland set-up. The fact Kris Commons has started scoring goals again is also a huge boost. He is a real goal threat from midfield after not doing a great deal last season and has hurt us in the past. Victor Wanyama also chips in with a few goals, although that's not his main aim, while Scott Brown provides energy and tackles.
I mentioned the 4-0 win earlier and the Celtic defence at that time was absolutely horrendous. I don't think it got much better until about six months ago with things now finally seeming a bit more solid. It helps that whoever is in the back line now has a relatively solid and reliable keeper behind them after Fraser Forster was signed in the summer following two years on loan, the ex Newcastle man even earning a call up to the most recent England squad. Kelvin Wilson and Adam Matthews are decent enough and while Charlie Mulgrew has been earning rave reviews for his performances at centre half, I personally don't think he is anything more than average in that position. He can still take a good free-kick mind you. Playing him in the middle does also allow Lennon to use Emilio Izaguirre at leftback, while the defence was strengthened just before the transfer window shut with the signing of Nigerian defender Efe Ambrose.
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