Angry Brendan Rodgers warns Celtic must be better after St Johnstone shock

Brendan Rodgers had to control his anger after William Hill Premiership leaders Celtic suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to bottom side St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.

Defender Daniels Balodis scored the only goal of the game after four minutes before the visitors dominated for the rest of the game but were denied by Simo Valakari’s side, whose keeper Andy Fisher made some vital saves.

It was the Perth side’s first win in 32 games against the Hoops going back to 2016 and they moved five points behind second-bottom Dundee with six fixtures remaining.

Celtic are still 13 points ahead of Rangers, still on course for the title and have their chance for revenge when they face St Johnstone in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park in a fortnight.

However, Rodgers was not impressed by that his side served up and will address slow starts in the summer while stressing there was still work to be done this season.

He said: “Bitterly disappointing. It’s a huge credit to St Johnstone and congratulations to them. For us, poor start to the game, but not the first time and this is something for me that we will look at, certainly in the summer.

“But the start was really poor, it was soft, it was too comfortable in the game. We go behind and then obviously we are much better in the second half.

“There’s definitely anger. I’m trying to control it.

“And listen, I look at my own self first and foremost. I’m proud of my career and how I teach players and how I inspire them and how I motivate them.

“Am I doing the very best job I possibly can to inspire these and motivate these to get over the line? So that’s my first look.

“But I just think there’s a comfort there I don’t like. And it doesn’t matter if you’re 13 points or three points ahead. It’s not enough. We have to be much better than where we were in our ambition in the game.

“Ambition and desire come from within.

“My intention is to sprint over the line. And I’ve done that before and I know what it looks like.

“But I don’t like that side of it in this team. Because for Celtic, it’s winning in the best way you possibly can. Not just chugging your way over the line.

“So we have no excuses. It’s not about tiredness. It’s not about the pitch. St Johnstone have done great. They deserve a huge amount of credit.

“My concern is for Celtic and for the ambition of the team and the mentality and the progress of the team. Then these are interesting games for me to analyse.”

After such a tense afternoon where his side upset the odds, Valakari had perhaps an unusual take on things, saying: “It was fun – a real fun experience.

“Nothing has changed, we needed the points especially after the results yesterday.

“We can’t do anything about that, we just went out today knowing we had to get something to make sure we give ourselves a chance.

“In a relegation battle you need these results, winning games nobody expects you to.

“We said it before the game among ourselves, football is crazy sometimes. We needed something unexpected to happen and it happened today.”