The Celts make the trip to Paisley this Sunday for a noon kick-off against the side they played when the curtain was brought down on a successful 2023/24 league campaign just a few months ago. St Mirren were the visitors on Flag Day and they took the lead twice before a late strike from Luis Palma ensured Celtic’s title party got off to the best possible start. A player who knows all about Flag Days and what it takes to make them possible is Hoops captain, Callum McGregor, and he is keen to maintain the early-season momentum against the Saints this Sunday. The skipper said of the start of the season: “Feeling in a good place, happy with and the football’s going well, so we just move on to the next game and try to give as good a performance as what we have done since we came back for pre-season. ‘Things are moving well and we’ll continue to build on that.’ “Everything’s going well at this point in time. We know how quickly things can change, so the biggest challenge for the group now is to stay on top of that, keep the hunger, keep training properly, keep everybody in a good place playing for the team and hopefully that will continue the performance levels and the energy levels that’ we’ve shown so far. “And obviously the next game at the weekend is the next opportunity to show that.” And he said of the opponents in that next game: “They’ve done great over the last couple of seasons and always give us tough games as well. “With their set-up, they can set up in a couple of different ways. We generally find it more difficult to play against tha,t but once we get into our rhythm and flow, then later on in the games we’ve managed to go and kill the game off. “So, we know again it will be a tough game, a tighter pitch obviously at their place as well, so it’s up to us to start the game properly, get the tempo going and if we can, try to score early, and make it more of a comfortable afternoon than perhaps it could be.”This time next week, Celtic will know their UEFA Champions League opponents after the draw in Monaco as the new format will really begin to take shape. It’s something McGregor is looking forward to and he said: “In theory you are playing more teams around your level, and you still have the glamour games within that as well, so it will be a new format for everyone and obviously we’ll be excited. “But I think even if we were continuing with the old format, the win against Feyenoord at the end of the last campaign gave the boys a big shot in the arm. “For so long it was a glorious failure, you’re doing well in games, you lose a last-minute goal against Lazio, the Atletico Madrid game finishes 2-2 when we do enough to probably win the game. “So I think probably that game (Feyenoord) on its own is enough to give the boys the energy and belief that you know actually we’re good enough here, we’ve got the result there, we’ve got over the line, we know what it looks like on a Champions League night. “That more than anything, but, for sure, the new format will change things slightly as well and, with the way the team’s playing, there is no reason why we can’t go in and try to make a mark as well.” The captain’s full press conference Scotland career Transfer window speculation More on the match Training Gallery: St Mirren v Celtic Get live St Mirren v Celtic match updates from our official match centre – Visit the Match Centre Test your knowledge with our St Mirren v Celtic Quiz – Try the Quiz FixturesSt. Mirren Vs. Celtic – Sun, Aug 25th 2024, 12:00
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