DAVID TURNBULL has insisted Celtic won’t let up in the Scottish Premiership – because Ange Postecoglou won’t let them.
The midfielder admitted the Greek-Australian boss has instilled his relentless attitude into the Celtic squad after Celtic extended their lead at the top to nine points.
Turnbull – who netter the equaliser against Ross County – is thrilled to be sitting top of the pile at the World Cup break but revealed neither Postecoglou or the players pay attention to the table.
Rangers’ battling draw against St Mirren left an opportunity for Celtic and like for the vast majority of this season, Turnbull and Co made no mistake.
“I don’t think the gaffer or any of the boys focus on the league table, we focus on ourselves and try to get three points in every game,” said Turnbull after Celtic made it 14 wins from the first 15 fixtures of the Scottish Premiership.
“We take each game as it comes, so we don’t really look at the table.
“There is plenty of motivation for the boys every week. The league title is a motivation, every game we play we are always ready to go and play our game style. So far it is going well.
“I didn’t know the Rangers result before the game. By the time we got here and got ready, we focused on our own game. I saw it after the game though.
“We don’t focus on anyone else, or their results, it is about what we do.
“We are doing brilliantly right now and now we have to keep it going.” Turnbull knows himself that Celtic weren’t at their slick and brilliant best against County, but admitted sometimes it’s about grinding out the result in the quest for the league crown.
A quick-fire comeback was started by Turnbull’s cool finish from close range before Sead Haksabanovic curled into the bottom corner as moments of magic inspired a turnaround triumph.
“Are those the types of games that win you titles? You need to dig in sometimes,” said Turnbull.
“I thought we were in control until the Ross County penalty incident. After that we worked hard and we did that. We created plenty of chances and it was a great result.
“We showed our character again by coming back from the penalty.
“I haven’t seen it back but I thought it was a bit crazy at the time.
“After that we showed how good we are and we put our own stamp on the game and we did well.”
Celtic had fallen behind early in the second period when David Munro pointed to the spot after Callum Johnson’s tackle sent the ball spiralling into the arm of Matt O'Riley.
The decision irked the Celtic Park crowd with it impossible for O’Riley to move his arm and avoid contact from extremely close range.
For Turnbull the decision was just another indication that any contact with an arm in the box will result in a spot kick – but admitted the decision and subsequent opener may have jolted Celtic into action.
“I think it might be,” said Turnbull to every handball incident leading to a penalty. “I think they will give a penalty whenever it hits a hand and then no one will complain.
“People still will, but it is hard as players as you need to watch where you put your hands and it is tough, but they are the rules.
“We were playing well without really creating much before the penalty.
“After that it spurred us on a bit more to get the two goals that we got.”
Celtic now head into the World Cup shutdown with a comfortable lead at the top and high-spirits in the camp. A homecoming trip to Australia for Postecoglou and players not on World Cup duty is next on the agenda.
And Turnbull reckons Celtic will step it up a gear on their return to domestic action next month despite a near-perfect first chunk of the season.
“Will we get better after the World Cup break? I think so,” said the midfielder who will travel Down Under with Celtic not releasing international players for friendly matches.
“Hopefully we will have most of the boys back from injury after it.
“The break will do us good and then we want to come back firing on all cylinders.
“We have 14 wins out of 15 in the league which is great. We had one blip at St Mirren which was tough.
“We knew after that we could have played better but in the other 14 games we have been brilliant.
“We know every game is different and you will face challenges. We don’t go into any game thinking it will be easy.
“The St Mirren game wasn’t great but we knew if we played the way we can then we wouldn’t have many other results like that.
“Now we have to kick on and try to keep winning.
“The gaffer won’t let us take our foot off the gas. We are going to play every game as if it is our last and try to get as many wins as we can.”
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