There may be no violins allowed at Parkhead but Callum McGregor insists the battered Celtic band will play on until Boxing Day and look to go in to the break on a high note.
The injury hit Hoops were off key against St Mirren on Wednesday as they could only cup the gap to Premiership pacesetters Rangers to six points.
The big two’s New Year collision course has been diverted to February amid the Omicron panic and the league will go in to cold storage after Sunday.
McGregor knows Celtic can’t afford any more bum notes before the break – even if they are without a raft of star performers.
The Parkhead absent list is up to 11 with Joe Hart missing in midweek, along with Kyogo, Jota, James Forrest, David Turnbull, Gio Giakoumakis, Albian Ajeti and suspended Carl Starfelt.
Much was made of St Mirren’s Covid chaos but the Buddies side still have seven regular starters – while the Celtic side looked more like a scratch team usually seen in pre-season.
Postecoglou insisted there would be ‘no violins here’ and his captain is on the same song sheet.
McGregor said: “There’s no bones about it, we are struggling for bodies. We are not a team that wants to go down the road of making excuses.
“When someone gets injured, it’s an opportunity for other players. That’s the way we have to look at it.
“Losing quality players does affect you and what you are trying to do.
“But we don’t want to go down the road of making excuses.
“Do we want to go in to the break on a high? Absolutely.
“We’ll dust ourselves down. It was obviously a disappointing result but psychologically it doesn’t change anything too much.
“We still want to go out on a high and then we know how important the games are when we start back.
“We want to rectify the other night come the end of the month.”
McGregor was frustrated at the St Mirren stalemate. Celtic had over 80 percent possession and 30 attempts on goal – only to draw a blank.
But the captain also wants to look at the bigger picture.
Celtic have lost just once in their last 18 games – to Bayer Leverkusen – and drawn twice, against Livi and now Saints.
The Parkhead men have also stuck a trophy in the cabinet with the Premier Sports Cup captured with their weekend win against Hibs.
It’s ben a bumpy road at times in the early months of Postecoglou’s reign but McGregor is convinced they are on the right track.
It doesn’t help when Rangers have found their groove and are racking up the wins but the Celtic captain prefers to look at his own side and he believes the last few months have shown enough for fans to be optimistic about the second half of the season.
McGregor pointed to those 15 wins in 18 games and said: “Exactly. We can’t get too carried away and focus on the one result. We’ve been winning games for a long time now and we’ve been consistent over a period of time.
“We’ve been looking like the team we want to be.
“We want to add a bit of quality to that in the moments we need.
“But it’s been a good body of work over the period so far, in terms of where we started to where we are.
“We need to stay calm and stay focused.
“In football, if you ever need a reminder of what the game can do, that was it the other night. You got from Sunday to that.
“But we know exactly where we are as a group and where we want to get to. There’s still a lot of work to do to get there.”
McGregor knows what work needs done as well. Celtic have gained a reputation under Postecoglou for being free flowing and scoring.
But the goals haven’t quite flowed as much as late with key attackers out of the side.
The loss of Kyogo and Jota has been brutal for the Hoops and with the pair out there’s a distinctive lack of cutting edge.
There was also a familiar look about the St Mirren draw. Celtic struggled to break down Livingston back in October and they found it hard going to get around a parked bus in Paisley again the other night.
It’s never easy when sides string 10 men across the edge of their own box but it’s up to title chasing teams to figure it out – and stick the ball in the net when the chance comes.
McGregor said: “It was really frustrating. We had enough opportunities, balls flashed across the face of goal, enough chances in general to win the game.
“It’s a little bit like where we’ve been at recently. We’ve managed to just get over the line in certain games of late.
“We just need to be more ruthless, When these chances come we need to take them.
“You look at all the ball we have, we have been dominating games for a long time now and creating so many chances. We need to take them as well.
“We’ve spoken about it internally. We shouldn’t need 10 chances to win a game.
“One or two should be enough. The way teams are setting up against us now, it’a more than likely we’re going to need to get one or two to score and get your points.
“It’s something to work on in training.”
