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Alistair Johnston has that ‘fuck’ mentality that propelled Celtic from the breaking point of defeat at Fir Park.
The full-back had a heated exchange with his teammates on Sunday after a dismal 45-minute start at Motherwell in which the champions trailed 1-0 at half-time.
But a forceful reaction led them to a 3-1 victory. And Johnston isn’t easy with the same no-holds-barred technique when Dundee stopped at Parkhead on Wednesday night. He said: “We were too reluctant to take risks in the first half, betting a little too cautious, a little too slow. That’s the trend in the way we’ve been playing lately. So it’s vital that we all go there – and we talk about this at half-time – with a little bit of an effective mindset. Go ahead and what’s the worst that can happen?
“If we lose it up there, we’re all running with bodies and we’re going to get it back. We’re back to our core principles of letting the formula dictate football.
“When we play forward, everyone discovers the right position on the field. This causes a lot of disruption to the teams. The race we do, no matter who’s on the field, tires teams.
“You might see it as the minutes go by. You might see it happening, but it’s a matter of whether there will be enough time to get one. Fortunately, in the 93rd minute and in the 97th minute, we had some others. The spur part is all about betting freely and betting forward.
Johnston even tore off a specially designed protective mask to lead the response. He said: “I felt like it had to happen. It was almost symbolic. The first half wasn’t my most productive football. “
“I just like, ‘Let’s take this off and see what happens. ‘It backfired, so I’ll take credit for it: the mask that disappeared and the bad juju it had.