CALLUM McGREGOR has reminded Hearts of how Aberdeen kicked off last season when the Dons strung together a long unbeaten sequence in the Premiership.
The Dons eventually finished fifth with Celtic THIRTY-NINE points ahead as they picked up their fourth successive championship.
There is a lot of hype surrounding the Tynecastle team at the moment and they boosted their cause with a 3-0 win over Falkirk in Edinburgh to take pole position in the Premiership by two points while the Hoops were held in a scoreless stalemate by Hibs at Parkhead.
BY THE RIGHT…Daizen Maeda displays his threat.
BY THE LEFT…Sebastian Tounekti runs at Josh Mulligan.
Brendan Rodgers will take his champions to Gorgie in a month’s time for what could be the acid test for Derek McInnes’ side as far as titles are concerned.
In the meantime, Celtic are looking up at a team that have won five and drawn one in their opening six outings.
McGregor insisted he wasn’t paying any attention to league summit at the moment and said: “No, we’re six games in. Maybe at 36 games, you start looking at the table, but not at six games in.
“It’s such a long season and there is so much football to be played. We’re thinking about performances and getting up to speed.
“Although we didn’t win the game, I’m sure if we play like that we’ll amass enough points to be where we want to be.
“Anyone can get off to a good start. Aberdeen did it last year. If you win the games in front of you, you collect enough points.
“Our objective over 38 games is to finish top of the league, so we can judge it when that happens.”
HITTING THE BAR…Kelechi Iheanacho looks disappointed after striking woodwork.
McGregor was not too dismayed with the team firing blanks against David Gray’s Leith outfit and is hoping to replicate that form – with the addition of goals – when the Hoops host Sporting Braga in the second Europa League encounter under the lights in the east end of Glasgow on Thursday night.
The influential captain, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “If we play like that, I’m pretty sure we’ll win. We were searching for rhythm and it was as good as it’s been.
“Performance-wise, we did everything apart from putting the ball in the net. We limited them to nothing.”
There was a 12-minute silence at the start of the game from a section of protesting fans and that is poised to be extended to 29 minutes for the visit of the Portuguese club – including Gustaf Lagerbielke – in four days’ time.
NO GOAL…VAR image shows Marcelo Saracchi and Kelechi Iheanacho in offside positions in the build-up to the striker’s ‘goal’ being ruled out.
McGregor added: “When the game starts, the players don’t really notice too much. You are thinking about the game and where you should be.
“After that, you hear a little bit and the atmosphere is there. The job of the team is to try and get the crowd going as quickly as possible.
“If we start well, hopefully, the whole thing comes to life again.
“We are where we were a couple of weeks ago. It is now on the team to put in performances to make everyone happy. That doesn’t change.”
BLANKETY BLANK ON DAY OF FRUSTRATION
