Celtic stars can’t allow international hangover to hamper club form

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Can Scotland’s Celtic stars rebound with big performances at the weekend?

The Celtic quartet that were called up to Steve Clarke’s Scotland national team didn’t have the best of international breaks.

Two home defeats to Russia and Belgium in Euro 2020 have left the country fifth in their group behind that pair as well as Kazakhstan and Cyprus.

The defeats have provoked a high-profile outcry amongst pundits and the rest of the Scottish media, as well as the Tartan Army.

James Forrest, Ryan Christie and Callum McGregor all played a part over the two fixtures, with Greg Taylor left on the bench due to the presence of Liverpool stand-out Andy Robertson.

Christie appeared despondent in the wake of last night’s Belgium defeat, critical of his performance despite being voted as the sponsors’ man of the match at Hampden.

As quoted by The Daily Record, he said: “It’s nice to get voted, but it’s not really lifted my spirits.

“I wasn’t really happy with my performance at all. When you get the ball in good areas against these teams, you need to make it count.

“I didn’t have enough shots or create enough chances, but that’s on me and the other attacking boys.”

A chance to bounce back

From Celtic’s perspective, it’s important that they don’t dwell too much on the results.

All four must immediately re-focus and turn their attention back to picking up from where the Hoops left off against Rangers last Sunday.

On the immediate horizon is an away trip to Hamilton on Saturday lunchtime.

It’s a great opportunity to get their form back on track and put what was a nightmare international break behind them.

Christie in particular has been in fantastic shape at the start of the season, scoring a healthy eight goals and assisting five times in 13 appearances.

McGregor and Forrest are also key players and Lennon can’t afford any of them to be suffering from a Scotland hangover.

With Taylor potentially making his debut, he must get his head in the game too.

It’s crucial for Celtic that follow up their derby victory with a positive league result to show their forward momentum has not been halted by a distracting break in proceedings.