Captain speaks exclusively to Celtic TV

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Celtic F.C.

·27 January 2024

Captain speaks exclusively to Celtic TV

Hoops captain, Callum McGregor sat down with Celtic TV this week, giving an exclusive interview to the club channel on how he thinks the season has gone so far for the team.

Coming off the back a Scottish Cup 5-0 victory over Buckie Thistle, that marked a winning return following the winter break, the Celts have kicked off their return to action in the way they ended the first half of the season – with a win to follow on from a string of league victories prior to the mid-season respite.

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The skipper told Celtic TV: “It’s been reasonably positive, we’ve come into the second half of the season, still top of the league and the boys did the job last weekend in the cup.

“You’ve got to put one foot in front of the other if you want to get to cup finals and you have to beat who’s in front of you, so I thought it was good exercise in terms of the boys doing everything that we look for in the games and the way that we play.

“So, that was really positive, obviously it’s been a tough first six months with a lot of high performances and some bits that haven’t been so great.

“And you get that with new squads and new players, people coming in and trying to settle and find their rhythm, so that is natural in football with the expectation being so high.

“Certainly in here inside the building for that last couple of years, then you just want near perfection all of the time and sometimes that can be a little bit unrealistic.

“But, that is what we strive for, so when you have either draws or defeats then it really annoys people and then it get under your skin.

“So we trying to stamp out that element of maybe in the first six months of the season where we’ve been a little bit up and down.

“I think the majority of the performances have been really, really good. The team’s connecting nicely now and you can see maybe in the last three or four games the patterns are good.

“The work ethic, the determination, the running off the ball, everything that makes us a good Celtic team has been there in the last four games.

“So it’s important that we now carry that on an learn the lessons of those little periods in the first half of the season, and like I say, we try and stamp them out as much as possible, but the positives have for sure been really positive.”

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Among those positives were wins home and away over Rangers and a Champions League monkey off the team’s back with a home win over Feyenoord.

Looking at the high points, the club captain added: “The derby games are always big. You go to Ibrox and win, for any Celtic team to do that, you have to be right and on the money on the day, and I thought we were excellent.

“We showed all the different sides to the game and you have to be strong, you have to be together when you go there.

“So, for sure, that is a highlight and, in the games against Rangers, you want to win them, you understand how much it means to the supporters

“So, obviously in the home game there we just played as well, it was a great day, the boys were fantastic in the game and gave everything to the game, which we expect, so we had a good day there.

“You look at the Feyenoord game at home. Everybody was talking about that 10 years of trying to get a home win in the Champions League. Unfortunately by the time it came, we couldn’t progress out of the group.

“I’ve spoken about that quite a few times in terms of small margins, and that’s what happens on a night when the small margins fall for you, and you can quite easily get a result.

“And the good thing about that is we were competitive in all the games that we kept 11 on the pitch, so, for sure, there were some really good points throughout the season.

“And, like I said, it’s just building this with a new group, it’s just putting one foot in front of the other and not getting too far ahead of yourself and you’ve got a really exciting second half of the season to come.

“The league run-in is always good, always important and the Scottish Cup becomes a big focus as well.”