Celtic 6-0 St Mirren: Postecoglou wants side to be 'relentless'
- Published
Teenage winger Liel Abada (left) grabbed two first-half goals in the rout
Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has demanded his team remain "relentless" after storming to the Scottish Premiership summit for the first time in year with a six-goal thrashing of 10-man St Mirren.
A David Turnbull hat-trick, Liel Abada brace and Odsonne Edouard finish made it back-to-back 6-0 league wins.
The visitors had Alan Power dismissed in the first half for a late challenge.
"Right to the end, we were pushing," the Celtic boss told BBC Scotland.
"We set off at a good tempo and put them under pressure. The sending off enabled us to control the game very well.
"We want to be relentless in our pursuit of playing our football. This was a good test of that."
Postecoglou's men are preparing themselves perfectly for a seismic week in which they go to AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League on Thursday, followed by the first Old Firm derby of the season at Ibrox next Sunday.
St Mirren, still without a league win this term, drop to 11th in the table.
The Paisley side, missing their manager Jim Goodwin due to a positive Covid-19 test, will need to put a sobering afternoon's work behind them as they face a tough test against St Johnstone next weekend.
The last meeting between these sides at Parkhead resulted in a grim 2-1 defeat for Celtic in January - St Mirren's first victory in Glasgow's East End for 31 years.
That result left Neil Lennon's side 23 points adrift of Rangers, but the mood has completely flipped seven months on as Celtic delivered a scintillating performance in front of a packed home crowd.
Postecoglou's side set their stall out early as Turnbull rattled the inside of Jak Alnwick's left-hand post from 25 yards.
Abada was next to threaten, seeing an effort deflect and loop just over the bar, but he would find the net moments later when he cut in from the left all too easily before bending a shot into the far corner.
It was already going to take a huge effort from St Mirren to get anything from the game given Celtic's urgency, but their task became much tougher when a late sliding challenge from Power caught Turnbull out on the left wing.
Wherever Goodwin was watching, he would have been looking on through the cracks in his fingers as just three minutes after Power's sending off, Celtic made it 2-0.
Greg Taylor's clipped cross to the back post was met by Abada, who headed down into the ground and into the top-left corner of the net.
The visitors thought they had one back when Scott Tanser's looping cross was met by Greg Kiltie, as Curtis Main provided the finishing touch. But the assistant referee determined the striker was offside.
The hosts responded to that scare by adding a third, as Turnbull got his angles right this time to blast past Alnwick from 25 yards out.
As with Celtic's opener, Alnwick got a hand to the ball but failed to keep it from finding the net.
Kyogo Furuhashi then forced a close-range effort over as Edouard hit the bar, before Alnwick again looked suspect.
Abada - who tormented St Mirren's defence all afternoon - delivered into the box, and the St Mirren goalkeeper could only parry the cross into the path of Turnbull, who tapped home Celtic's fourth goal.
Alnwick could do nothing about Celtic's fifth, though, as Edouard prodded home from close range at the second attempt, after his first strike was blocked.
And Turnbull capped a stunning display when a lovely move resulted in substitute Tom Rogic sending the Scotland midfielder through to stab past Alnwick.
Man of the match - David Turnbull
The 22-year-old was outstanding throughout and could have easily scored five goals
What did we learn?
Postecoglou demands relentlessness from his players and, at the moment, his team are giving him exactly that.
Back-to-back six-goal wins in the league have brought the feelgood factor back to Celtic Park and his players' confidence levels will be sky high heading into a crucial seven days.
Goodwin's side will need to forget about this quickly, but that is easier said than done.
St Mirren's next four games include fixtures against three of last season's top five, and failure to pick up a decent amount points may see the Paisley side languishing at the bottom, even if it remains early days.
What they said
Celtic midfielder David Turnbull: "You saw today we were relentless until the 90th minute and everything's going well at the moment.
"It's just about building confidence and the manager's breeding that through the team and the new signings have settled in well."
St Mirren assistant Lee Sharp: "The goal that we had that got chopped off was perfectly fine, Curtis is onside. Big decisions go against you and it makes it harder."
What's next?
Celtic go to AZ Alkmaar for the return leg of their Europa League play-off on Thursday (19:15 BST) before a trip to Ibrox for the first Old Firm derby of the season next Sunday (12:00).
St Mirren are back in action next Sunday, as they welcome St Johnstone (15:00).