Stand-in skipper Nir Bitton reckons Celtic will make life easier for themselves if they become more ruthless.
But manager Ange Postecoglou insists the strength of the Israeli ace and experienced team-mates such as Tom Rogic ensured his side secured a deserved win at McDiarmid Park.
Rogic set up Bitton to score the clinching third goal as Celtic stayed in touch at the top of the Premiership heading into the winter break with a 3-1 victory over St Johnstone.
It was the contributions of the pair before that, though, which had the gaffer purring.
Bitton was delighted to be on the scoresheet as his strike eight minutes from time guaranteed a win would be secured.
Celtic were a couple of goals ahead at the interval thanks to his compatriot Liel Abada.
But a mistake from Carl Starfelt that allowed Saints sub Chris Kane to head home and a failure to take other chances created meant there was just a goal in it before Bitton eased concerns.
The captain for the day in Callum McGregor’s absence admits things should not have been tense for that short spell after Kane’s 69th-minute finish.
He said: “We made it difficult for ourselves. It was a comfortable game for us and we controlled
it from the first minute. I’m glad we won.
“We knew before the game it didn’t matter what team we put out – we are the better team and had to control the game and show it on the pitch.
“We have a strong squad and it doesn’t matter who plays. We should dominate and control the matches.
“We made one mistake and we paid for that. But we need to learn for the future.
“We need to be more ruthless and finish games off earlier.
“But, at the end of the day, the most important thing is we won”
Bitton made sure of the victory with his right-foot strike and he added: “My goal was lucky.
“I was inside the box, controlled the ball and just tried to hit the target. I’m glad I did it.”
The Israeli savoured the chance to lead the troops in the absence of McGregor and got a win just as he did when leader against Real Betis in Europa League action earlier this month.
Bitton said: “I try to do my best every game. I don’t put a lot of attention to being captain, apart from it being a privilege to captain this club. These boys had an amazing game.
“We controlled the match from the first minute, that’s important.”
Postecoglou was full of praise for the man he handed the armband to and thrilled at the contribution of other stalwarts.
He said: “We really needed our experienced players to stand up. Bitton, Rogic and James McCarthy were excellent, Josip Juranovic as well.
“On a day you know is going to be challenging for a number of reasons, experienced players have to lead the way and they did.”
Bitton had the final say but it was Abada who laid the foundations with his double.
The 20-year-old took his tally for the term to 10 goals with his follow-up header and clever finish past Elliott Parish.
Postecoglou was chuffed at the clinical touch and said: “Liel has been great. We have asked him to do different jobs at different times this year.
“It’s been quite challenging but he’s been super. It was great for him to get the goals.”
Abada was able to ensure the loss of Kyogo Furuhashi to injury was cushioned.
The Japanese’s hamstring issue also allowed 18-year-old Joey Dawson to make his debut from the bench, six-and-a-half months after his move from Scunthorpe.
Postecoglou added: “He did a good job. The way the team plays, we train in a similar way so that when the boys need to make the jump up, it’s as seamless as it possibly can be. It was good to see him get a run and he did well.”
Overall, Postecoglou left Perth delighted that a potentially tricky task had been negotiated ahead of moving into the shutdown.
Spilled points in Paisley four days prior to this clash had put additional pressure on his under-strength team.
Celtic managed to get the job done to enter the break six points off Rangers and Postecoglou said: “We needed to start well.
“We started well on Wednesday night, we just didn’t get the goals to show that.
“We did against St Johnstone, which is important for the way we play. We are creating chances, dominating games. It was a really good first half, excellent first half. The conditions were challenging.
“The pitch made it difficult for us to play a little bit. St Johnstone were desperate for points.
“We knew we had to start well and we did. We were excellent in the first 45 minutes.
“We got a couple of good goals and probably could have had a couple more.
“The second half got a bit scrappy at times but we still gave ourselves a couple of good opportunities. I’m really happy with the players’ commitment and attitude.
“It has been a challenging week and we got the job done.”
