Celtic 7-0 St Johnstone: Leaders nine points clear after crushing win

Celtic are “not going to let go” of their Scottish Premiership lead after demolishing St Johnstone to move nine points clear, says manager Ange Postecoglou.

Reo Hatate, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Daizen Maeda put the leaders in total control at the break.

Josip Juranovic, Matt O’Riley’s double, and Liel Abada completed the biggest win of Postecoglou’s tenure.

The victory puts the pressure on Rangers, who face St Mirren on Sunday.

• Reaction & as it happened

“If anyone watched our training session yesterday they would have seen there’s definitely no complacency,” the Celtic boss told BBC Scotland.

“I’ve just got to hold them back a bit so we don’t go too hard in training.

“They want this, they can taste it. The players want to create something special for themselves and they’re not going to let it go now.”

Meanwhile, St Johnstone stay 11th having had their advantage over bottom club Dundee cut to five points.

Celtic took a big step towards reclaiming the league crown with victory at Ibrox last week, but Postecoglou dismissed any notion his side would let their guard down in the final six games.

Every aspect of their performance showed he was right as they set a ferocious tempo from the start.

Hatate was denied brilliantly by Zander Clark just a minute before firing in the first goal from Greg Taylor’s cutback, and the chances kept coming as Tom Rogic shot straight at the St Johnstone goalkeeper from seven yards out.

But it wasn’t too long before Callum Booth gifted Celtic a second goal by passing straight to Giakoumakis, who rounded Clark and squeezed the ball in from close range.

Unfortunately for Celtic, the Greek striker limped off with a muscle injury minutes later but his absence did not check their momentum as Jota whipped in a fantastic cross for Maeda to nod in a third before half-time.

Despite making a double change at the interval St Johnstone were powerless to resist Celtic, and one of the replacements, Tom Sang, bundled over Hatate to give away a penalty just five minutes into the second half.

Juranovic converted with confidence to make it 4-0, and after a 19-minute lull, Celtic struck three goals in eight minutes to pile the misery on their toiling visitors.

Half-time replacement O’Riley headed in David Turnbull’s cross then curled a beautiful shot into the top corner three minutes later.

And Abada thumped in Celtic’s seventh after Maeda latched on to a pass over the top and touched the ball into his path.

The league leaders could have easily hit double figures as they racked up 23 shots and attempted over 950 passes in an emphatic message about their title intentions.

Man of the match – Reo Hatate

What did we learn?

It is hard to overstate just how dominant Celtic were. Nearly 1000 passes, countless good chances to win by more, and just one shot for St Johnstone all match. It was the type of performance which sets the tone for the run-in.

During the week Postecoglou emphasised he had a full squad desperate to play their part with no complacency allowed to set in after their derby win, and his players proved him right.

O’Riley was outstanding off the bench and could have had a hat-trick while Abada was also terrific after coming on for Giakoumakis. David Turnbull got an assist, and Kyogo Furuhashi made his first appearance since Boxing Day. Every single player contributed.

On this performance, the league title is only heading in one direction.

As for St Johnstone, this is the kind of hammering that could seriously affect confidence over the final five games. Plenty of teams take heavy defeats to the Glasgow giants but they could not lay the merest of touches on Celtic.

They’re five points clear of the automatic relegation spot but six adrift of guaranteed safety. Davidson will need to get his players together to quickly shake off this performance as they prepare to scrap with the teams around them after the split.

What they said

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou: “I think the scoreline reflected our dominance. We knew it was a dangerous game – they have been in good form. It was important we started well.

“Like a lot of our games at home, we got on top early, but what was pleasing today was we finished off our work in the second half and made it a convincing performance for the whole 95 minutes.”

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson: “It’s never nice to suffer that kind of scoreline, but Celtic were relentless for 90 minutes. It’s a very hard place to come and get any points, so we’ve got to look beyond this to the next five games. It is a huge five games for the club to stay in this league.

What’s next?

The Scottish Cup takes centre stage next week as Celtic play their semi-final against Rangers at Hampden on Sunday (14:00 BST), while St Johnstone await the announcement of the post-split fixtures.

Player of the match

MaedaDaizen Maeda

with an average of 9.03

Celtic

1. Squad number38Player nameMaeda

2. Squad number33Player nameO’Riley

3. Squad number41Player nameHatate

4. Squad number42Player nameMcGregor

5. Squad number17Player nameJota

6. Squad number20Player nameCarter-Vickers

7. Squad number7Player nameGiakoumakis

8. Squad number11Player nameAbada

9. Squad number3Player nameTaylor

10. Squad number4Player nameStarfelt

11. Squad number8Player nameFuruhashi

12. Squad number18Player nameRogic

13. Squad number88Player nameJuranovic

14. Squad number15Player nameHart

15. Squad number14Player nameTurnbull

16. Squad number16Player nameMcCarthy

St Johnstone

1. Squad number1Player nameClark

2. Squad number14Player nameMiddleton

3. Squad number22Player nameHendry

4. Squad number6Player nameGordon

5. Squad number2Player nameBrown

6. Squad number8Player nameDavidson

7. Squad number4Player nameMcCart

8. Squad number18Player nameMacPherson

9. Squad number21Player nameCrawford

10. Squad number29Player nameHallberg

11. Squad number19Player nameRooney

12. Squad number24Player nameBooth

13. Squad number7Player nameMay

14. Squad number27Player nameSang

15. Squad number17Player nameBair

16. Squad number34Player nameButterfield

Line-ups

Celtic

Formation 4-3-3

15Hart

88Juranovic20Carter-Vickers4Starfelt3Taylor

18Rogic42McGregor41Hatate

17Neves Filipe7Giakoumakis38Maeda

• 15Hart
• 88Juranovic
• 20Carter-Vickers
• 4Starfelt
• 3Taylor
• 18RogicSubstituted forO’Rileyat 45′minutes
• 42McGregorSubstituted forMcCarthyat 74′minutes
• 41HatateSubstituted forTurnbullat 55′minutesSubstituted forat 90+2′minutes
• 17Neves FilipeSubstituted forFuruhashiat 74′minutes
• 7GiakoumakisSubstituted forAbadaat 27′minutes
• 38Maeda

Substitutes

• 6Bitton
• 8Furuhashi
• 11Abada
• 14Turnbull
• 16McCarthy
• 21Ideguchi
• 29Bain
• 33O’Riley
• 56Ralston

St Johnstone

Formation 5-3-2

1Clark

19Rooney2Brown6Gordon4McCart24Booth

8Davidson29Hallberg14Middleton

21Crawford22Hendry

• 1Clark
• 19RooneySubstituted forSangat 45′minutes
• 2Brown
• 6Gordon
• 4McCart
• 24Booth
• 8DavidsonSubstituted forMacPhersonat 45′minutes
• 29HallbergSubstituted forButterfieldat 77′minutes
• 14MiddletonSubstituted forMayat 64′minutes
• 21Crawford
• 22HendrySubstituted forBairat 64′minutes

Substitutes

• 5Cleary
• 7May
• 12Parish
• 15Gilmour
• 16Mahon
• 17Bair
• 18MacPherson
• 27Sang
• 34Butterfield

Live Text

1. Match ends, Celtic 7, St. Johnstone 0.

2. Second Half ends, Celtic 7, St. Johnstone 0.

3. David Turnbull went off injured after Celtic had used all subs.

4. Attempt missed. Liel Abada (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Matt O’Riley.

5. Corner, Celtic. Conceded by Liam Gordon.

6. Attempt missed. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) right footed shot from the right side of the box is too high. Assisted by David Turnbull.

7. Corner, Celtic. Conceded by James Brown.

8. Attempt missed. Liel Abada (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Daizen Maeda.

9. Attempt missed. Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Liel Abada.

10. Goal! Celtic 7, St. Johnstone 0. Liel Abada (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Daizen Maeda.

11. Substitution, St. Johnstone. Jacob Butterfield replaces Melker Hallberg.

12. Substitution, Celtic. James McCarthy replaces Callum McGregor.

13. Substitution, Celtic. Kyogo Furuhashi replaces Jota.

14. Goal! Celtic 6, St. Johnstone 0. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Josip Juranovic.

15. Goal! Celtic 5, St. Johnstone 0. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) header from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by David Turnbull with a cross.

16. Attempt missed. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Jota.

17. Substitution, St. Johnstone. Stevie May replaces Glenn Middleton.

18. Substitution, St. Johnstone. Theo Bair replaces Callum Hendry.

19. Callum McGregor (Celtic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

20. Foul by Alister Crawford (St. Johnstone).

Reo Hatate swept in Celtic’s opener after just eight minutes and set the toneCeltic are “not going to let go” of their Scottish Premiership lead after demolishing St Johnstone to move nine points clear, says manager Ange Postecoglou.Reo Hatate, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Daizen Maeda put the leaders in total control at the break.Josip Juranovic, Matt O’Riley’s double, and Liel Abada completed the biggest win of Postecoglou’s tenure.The victory puts the pressure on Rangers, who face St Mirren on Sunday.Reaction & as it happened”If anyone watched our training session yesterday they would have seen there’s definitely no complacency,” the Celtic boss told BBC Scotland.”I’ve just got to hold them back a bit so we don’t go too hard in training.”They want this, they can taste it. The players want to create something special for themselves and they’re not going to let it go now.”Meanwhile, St Johnstone stay 11th having had their advantage over bottom club Dundee cut to five points.Celtic took a big step towards reclaiming the league crown with victory at Ibrox last week, but Postecoglou dismissed any notion his side would let their guard down in the final six games.Every aspect of their performance showed he was right as they set a ferocious tempo from the start.Hatate was denied brilliantly by Zander Clark just a minute before firing in the first goal from Greg Taylor’s cutback, and the chances kept coming as Tom Rogic shot straight at the St Johnstone goalkeeper from seven yards out.But it wasn’t too long before Callum Booth gifted Celtic a second goal by passing straight to Giakoumakis, who rounded Clark and squeezed the ball in from close range.Unfortunately for Celtic, the Greek striker limped off with a muscle injury minutes later but his absence did not check their momentum as Jota whipped in a fantastic cross for Maeda to nod in a third before half-time.Despite making a double change at the interval St Johnstone were powerless to resist Celtic, and one of the replacements, Tom Sang, bundled over Hatate to give away a penalty just five minutes into the second half.Juranovic converted with confidence to make it 4-0, and after a 19-minute lull, Celtic struck three goals in eight minutes to pile the misery on their toiling visitors.Half-time replacement O’Riley headed in David Turnbull’s cross then curled a beautiful shot into the top corner three minutes later.And Abada thumped in Celtic’s seventh after Maeda latched on to a pass over the top and touched the ball into his path.The league leaders could have easily hit double figures as they racked up 23 shots and attempted over 950 passes in an emphatic message about their title intentions.Man of the match – Reo HatateIt could easily have been Matt O’Riley for his brilliant performance from the bench, but Reo Hatate was outstanding in everything he did before being withdrawn after the breakWhat did we learn?It is hard to overstate just how dominant Celtic were. Nearly 1000 passes, countless good chances to win by more, and just one shot for St Johnstone all match. It was the type of performance which sets the tone for the run-in.During the week Postecoglou emphasised he had a full squad desperate to play their part with no complacency allowed to set in after their derby win, and his players proved him right.O’Riley was outstanding off the bench and could have had a hat-trick while Abada was also terrific after coming on for Giakoumakis. David Turnbull got an assist, and Kyogo Furuhashi made his first appearance since Boxing Day. Every single player contributed. On this performance, the league title is only heading in one direction.As for St Johnstone, this is the kind of hammering that could seriously affect confidence over the final five games. Plenty of teams take heavy defeats to the Glasgow giants but they could not lay the merest of touches on Celtic.They’re five points clear of the automatic relegation spot but six adrift of guaranteed safety. Davidson will need to get his players together to quickly shake off this performance as they prepare to scrap with the teams around them after the split.What they saidCeltic manager Ange Postecoglou: “I think the scoreline reflected our dominance. We knew it was a dangerous game – they have been in good form. It was important we started well.”Like a lot of our games at home, we got on top early, but what was pleasing today was we finished off our work in the second half and made it a convincing performance for the whole 95 minutes.”St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson: “It’s never nice to suffer that kind of scoreline, but Celtic were relentless for 90 minutes. It’s a very hard place to come and get any points, so we’ve got to look beyond this to the next five games. It is a huge five games for the club to stay in this league.What’s next?The Scottish Cup takes centre stage next week as Celtic play their semi-final against Rangers at Hampden on Sunday (14:00 BST), while St Johnstone await the announcement of the post-split fixtures.Player of the matchMaedaDaizen Maedawith an average of 9.03CelticSquad number38Player nameMaedaSquad number33Player nameO’RileySquad number41Player nameHatateSquad number42Player nameMcGregorSquad number17Player nameJotaSquad number20Player nameCarter-VickersSquad number7Player nameGiakoumakisSquad number11Player nameAbadaSquad number3Player nameTaylorSquad number4Player nameStarfeltSquad number8Player nameFuruhashiSquad number18Player nameRogicSquad number88Player nameJuranovicSquad number15Player nameHartSquad number14Player nameTurnbullSquad number16Player nameMcCarthySt JohnstoneSquad number1Player nameClarkSquad number14Player nameMiddletonSquad number22Player nameHendrySquad number6Player nameGordonSquad number2Player nameBrownSquad number8Player nameDavidsonSquad number4Player nameMcCartSquad number18Player nameMacPhersonSquad number21Player nameCrawfordSquad number29Player nameHallbergSquad number19Player nameRooneySquad number24Player nameBoothSquad number7Player nameMaySquad number27Player nameSangSquad number17Player nameBairSquad number34Player nameButterfieldLine-upsCelticFormation 4-3-315Hart88Juranovic20Carter-Vickers4Starfelt3Taylor18Rogic42McGregor41Hatate17Neves Filipe7Giakoumakis38Maeda15Hart88Juranovic20Carter-Vickers4Starfelt3Taylor18RogicSubstituted forO’Rileyat 45’minutes42McGregorSubstituted forMcCarthyat 74’minutes41HatateSubstituted forTurnbullat 55’minutesSubstituted forat 90+2’minutes17Neves FilipeSubstituted forFuruhashiat 74’minutes7GiakoumakisSubstituted forAbadaat 27’minutes38MaedaSubstitutes6Bitton8Furuhashi11Abada14Turnbull16McCarthy21Ideguchi29Bain33O’Riley56RalstonSt JohnstoneFormation 5-3-21Clark19Rooney2Brown6Gordon4McCart24Booth8Davidson29Hallberg14Middleton21Crawford22Hendry1Clark19RooneySubstituted forSangat 45’minutes2Brown6Gordon4McCart24Booth8DavidsonSubstituted forMacPhersonat 45’minutes29HallbergSubstituted forButterfieldat 77’minutes14MiddletonSubstituted forMayat 64’minutes21Crawford22HendrySubstituted forBairat 64’minutesSubstitutes5Cleary7May12Parish15Gilmour16Mahon17Bair18MacPherson27Sang34ButterfieldLive TextMatch ends, Celtic 7, St. Johnstone 0.Second Half ends, Celtic 7, St. Johnstone 0.David Turnbull went off injured after Celtic had used all subs.Attempt missed. Liel Abada (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Matt O’Riley.Corner, Celtic. Conceded by Liam Gordon.Attempt missed. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) right footed shot from the right side of the box is too high. Assisted by David Turnbull.Corner, Celtic. Conceded by James Brown.Attempt missed. Liel Abada (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Daizen Maeda.Attempt missed. Kyogo Furuhashi (Celtic) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Liel Abada.Goal! Celtic 7, St. Johnstone 0. Liel Abada (Celtic) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Daizen Maeda.Substitution, St. Johnstone. Jacob Butterfield replaces Melker Hallberg.Substitution, Celtic. James McCarthy replaces Callum McGregor.Substitution, Celtic. Kyogo Furuhashi replaces Jota.Goal! Celtic 6, St. Johnstone 0. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Josip Juranovic.Goal! Celtic 5, St. Johnstone 0. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) header from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by David Turnbull with a cross.Attempt missed. Matt O’Riley (Celtic) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Jota.Substitution, St. Johnstone. Stevie May replaces Glenn Middleton.Substitution, St. Johnstone. Theo Bair replaces Callum Hendry.Callum McGregor (Celtic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.Foul by Alister Crawford (St. Johnstone).