'Are we ready for Rangers? Yes': Celtic in buoyant mood ahead of next Old Firm clash

The most important game for Celtic is the next one. Not just because it’s a Scottish Cup semi-final, at Hampden, against Rangers, but that is a factor. But because that is one of the fundamentals Ange Postecoglou has drummed into his players throughout this season in seeking constant, weekly, improvement.

He said it after Saturday’s drubbing of St Johnstone too – insisting there is more to come: “There has to be, that’s been our mantra all year. We want to be better than we were the week before and that’s what we’ve been building towards.”

A 7-0 win will take some to improve on, but with an increasing range of options among the Celtic squad, the players were not just dismantling St Johnstone, improving upon their Old Firm win at Ibrox the week before, they were laying down a marker for their continued involvement in Postecoglou’s first team.

The growing strength in depth was evidenced by the substitutions. Two, Liel Abada and Matt O’Riley, found the net with three second-half goals and competition for places is stronger still with the return of Kyogo Furuhashi.

“We have a lot of players in the squad and you only have to look at the bench against St Johnstone. We have boys who can come on and make the difference for us. There is such strength and depth in the team,” said Josip Juranovic, scorer of the other second-half goal, an early penalty to make it 4-0. “Even in training every day, the boys have to be at their best as we are fighting to get a place in the team. Because of that it helps the team reach high standards.”

It was something Postecoglou mentioned afterwards too, the quality of sessions in the build-up to St Johnstone contributing to the effort put in on the day. Saturday hit a high-water mark with this