Callum McGregor dismisses talk of Premiership title panic within Celtic squad after frustrating goalless draw against Hibernian

Callum McGregor has played down any talk of title tension within the Celtic camp as he insisted there will be plenty more twists and turns to come in the latter stages of their Premiership campaign.

The Hoops captain and his team-mates were held to a frustrating goalless draw against Hibernian at Easter Road yesterday, despite dominating large spells of the game.

Ange Postecoglou’s side struggled to create enough clear-cut chances as they failed to find a way past Matt Macey in the hosts’ goal to ensure they dropped two points in the sprint for domestic glory.

There are ten games remaining in the top-flight and Celtic remain three points in front at the top of the table after Rangers also slipped up on Sunday.

However, McGregor has dismissed any notion that nerves have crept into the Australian’s new-look Celtic squad after failing to find the back of the net for a second successive match following their 2-0 European exit to Norwegians Bodo/Glimt last Thursday.

He said: “When you get a bad performance during the week then follow that up with a draw at the weekend, automatically that’s what people will go to, that there’s nerves in the game, but that’s not the case.

“I think we did enough and the players have been fantastic. We have to trust each other, trust the process and what the manager is asking us to do.

“All we can do is focus on what we are doing. It wasn’t so long ago we were six points behind and you have to win and win.

“The group has done ever so well to get us to this position. You can’t affect what goes on outside of your own building. All you can affect is what you are trying to do.

“Do the right things, try to get better and have calmness and an assurance that what we are doing is working.

“We didn’t get what we deserved out of this game, but there will be to and fro between now and the end of the season, I’m sure of it.

“There are still ten games to go, so there’s three-quarters of the season done and the boys have been fantastic until now.

“So we need to stay calm and be focused. Keep doing what we are doing, and I think we’ll get there. You can only control what’s inside your building.

“If you start looking elsewhere, then that’s maybe where the pressure comes. We can only concentrate on our training and matches.

“Individually we have to perform. Whether you are six point behind, three points in front or one point in front of whatever, it doesn’t make a difference.

“Everyone plays the same amount of games come the end of the season, so the chances will tell you if you win the majority of your games you’ll win the league.

“That’s all we can focus on. Not any other result, someone doing us a favour, anything like that. It’s purely down to what we do.”

It was an afternoon to forget for Celtic in the capital as Liel Abada missed two good chances and substitute Matt O’Riley had an effort well saved by Macey.

Despite the setback, McGregor admits has urged his team-mates to remain calm, insisting their were positives to take from the contest.

He added: “I thought we were more like ourselves and we limited them to very little. I don’t see tiredness within the group.

“The manager has chopped and changed recently, which should help us going into the latter part of the season. We did things he asked us to do and sometimes it just doesn’t fall for you.

“You have to try and not overthink it as well. A lot of the boys have put in a lot of good performances over the piece and if you play like that most weeks, you’ll come out with enough points.

“I don’t think we need to come too far away from the structure the manager is asking us to do. There is obviously some fine-tuning in that. Can you move slightly differently? Pass it a bit quicker?

“But the reason teams are changing is because we have been so effective. We are now dominating games to the point where teams are completely changing their tactics against us. That’s a positive in itself.

“Sometimes in football, it has a funny way that you don’t get what you deserve out of a game, so we have to accept that and accept the result is not what we wanted.

“But if we produce performances like that and chances like that, over the piece we’ll do enough.”