Brendan Rodgers pinpoints major Celtic turning point pre Rangers win as boss convinced champions won’t look back

The Hoops boss is confident the Treble-winners will kick on and hit top gear over the coming months

The boos rang out from the Green Brigade as Celtic laboured to an uninspiring goalless draw at home to St Johnstone.

Seven days later and the green and white faithful’s volatile jeers turned into jubilant cheers as Brendan Rodgers’ makeshift team sent Ibrox into meltdown by walking away with all three points to regain some early breathing space in the battle for the title.

It’s amazing the difference a week can make in the world of football, and while the hard-fought 1-0 victory against Rangers will have won some of Rodgers’ doubters over, the Hoops boss reckons the Parkhead stalemate with Saints could prove to be the major turning point in the season as the champions chase three-in-a-row.

He told Celtic TV: “It’s absolutely critical. It’s only a big win against Rangers if we beat Dundee. The supporters will be feeling a lot better than they did from our last game against St Johnstone.

“What I would say is there was a game when I was here the first time that really crystalised everything in terms of the players and the improvement, and I think that was the Gibraltar game when we lost. For me, the St Johnstone game will be that. I’m pretty sure I’ll look back at the end of the season, and that game crystalised some of the items that we need to be better in within the game and within the structure and mentality.

“Obviously, we were then able to go on and get a very good result. So for me, going forward now, we’re going into an exciting part of the season, some more players back, but we have to really go and consolidate that good victory against Rangers by winning and winning well at the weekend.”