It may well be that for Celtic, the making of their season will not be the crucial win over Rangers at the weekend, but the recent defeats to Kilmarnock and Hearts.
That is the opinion of defender Liam Scales, who has revealed that the champions had something of a reset after Celtic Park turned toxic following the loss to Steven Naismith’s side in mid-December, bringing an aggression and speed to their play that had been missing.
That then allowed them to ultimately reassert their position at the top of the Premiership come the final whistle at the weekend with the hard-fought win over their city rivals.
And now that they have rediscovered their mojo and reaffirmed some fundamental aspects of their play, Scales is certain they are going into the New Year as a stronger outfit, and one that will only get better and better.
“Yeah, definitely,” Scales agreed.
“I feel like in the last couple of games we have been more intense in the way that we have played and we have got some good wins now.
“Even on Saturday, we could have gone up another level against 10 men to really finish the game off. But I suppose it is all about the result and we got the win.
“Look, we know we have to keep upping our levels in the second half of the season. We can’t stagnate or we will end up losing games and that is not what we are here to do.
“We had a good week to work after the Hearts game and we sort of focused on being more aggressive and having more speed in our play. That is sort of what we have been trying to do.
“If we can play at a really fast tempo for 90 minutes, we will eventually break teams down who are tough to break down. That has really been the main focus.
“Look, it was a bad couple of results, but we didn’t let it affect us too much. We just put it in the back of our minds, and we focused on what we can do.
“But we have definitely showed good mental strength. We do have a strong group mentally. It is great, I am loving being part of it.
“That is part of playing for this club as well. The fans demand wins every week. I think after those two games as players we said, ‘Right, we need to change something and change it fast because we can’t lose any more games’.
“That is what we did I suppose. The way we did it was by focusing on our football rather than anything else.”
While Scales believes Celtic have finally cracked the code of breaking down deep-lying opponents, he admits it was a refreshing change to go up against a team who went toe-to-toe with them in the shape of Rangers.
“When teams come and press us and try to get tight to us I feel as if it suits us,” he said.
“We can play through them and it suits the sort of players we have.
“It’s a nice difference from playing against a low block, which we do a lot in the league.
“The big occasions come against teams who come out and play, and we feel as if we can come out and play against most teams.”
You would have got long odds on Scales becoming a mainstay of the Celtic defence at this time last season, but he has now partnered three different centre-backs over the last two Old Firm games and conceded just one goal – the late free-kick from James Tavernier on Saturday.
Maik Nawrocki was his latest partner after Stephen Welsh – who himself was filling in for the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers – was forced off in the first half with a shoulder injury, and Scales was impressed by both of his teammates.
“Welshy was brilliant before he went off,” he said.
“When Maik came on he was outstanding. I thought he was brilliant, winning every ball that came his way and playing passes 40 yards.
“Kyogo’s goal actually came from a pass that Maik played to break the lines. To be thrown in a situation like that and do so well is brilliant.
“Maik came in over the summer and did well then got his long-term injury.
“That held him back but he has been fit a while now and he was patient waiting for his chance.
“I thought he really took it [on Saturday], he was brilliant.”
The win over Rangers capped off a fairytale year for Scales in his Celtic career, but he is guarding against complacency to ensure that 2024 gets off on the right foot against St Mirren in Paisley tomorrow.
“I am just delighted with how it has gone,” he said.
“It has been a great calendar year for me, things have only gone one way. But, look, I never get too far ahead.
“We just need to regroup now and win this last game against St Mirren.
“This is out the way, a great result, a good performance, but personally I just want to keep going the way I am going.”
