St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright admits it is difficult to know how to play against Celtic after losing at Parkhead last night.
Saints went down 2-0 to the Hoops, who dominated the match.
Two quick-fire second-half goals from first Callum McGregor then Ryan Christie gave the champions the victory they deserved.
For the second game in a row, Saints failed to trouble the opposition goal, albeit they did defend better than they did in the defeat at Hearts at the weekend.
They now welcome Celtic to their place on Sunday for another league clash and Wright has to work out how to play that one after losing 6-0 in Perth back in October.
“It was a hard night for us and we knew it was going to be that,” said Wright.
“I thought in the first half we frustrated them.
“There were key points going into this game. We had to work hard, be organised and disciplined, which we were.
“We also had to be good on the ball because if you don’t take care of possession here it makes it a long night.
“That was the one aspect of our game that was failing.
“I can’t fault the players for effort and workrate but ultimately we lost our shape a bit and became disjointed.
“We gave Celtic too much space but when you come up against a team with so much quality in depth it is difficult.
“It am not going to be too despondent but we need to do better on the ball when we play the bigger teams.
“At home you can possibly be on the front foot a bit more but managers sit in this chair after games and are asked why they didn’t have a go.
“We had a go at McDiarmid and got tanked six.
“But we will look at it for Sunday and try to help the players by coming up with a shape that might enable us to be a bit better on the ball.”
Asked if fans can expect a busy transfer deadline day, Wright joked: “I don’t think Jim White (the Sky presenter) will be outside McDiarmid wearing his yellow tie.
“There will be some business done, though, because we need to get a goalie in.
“We have done good business so far and the best bit of that was signing Jason Kerr up until 2022.”
