Celtic boss warns new recruits Scottish Premiership is a tough league

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has warned his new arrivals that the Scottish Premiership is a tough league to play in…

Celtic have been flawless domestically, but faced a tough challenge after going a goal behind against St Mirren in Paisley on Saturday evening.

Indeed it was the first time the Scottish Champions had fallen behind in a league fixture since the dramatic league title win over Hearts on the premiership conclusion last May.

It takes a certain mental toughness as well as ability to fight back in the Scottish top flight, especially in away fixtures, and the Irishman seen his side show those characteristics in Paisley, something that the players will need to consistently show if they want to retain their title.

Martin has pointed that out to a couple of his new arrivals those being Mika Baur and Shim Mheuka.

Baur has looked calm and assured in his few appearances so far, but his manager has had to warn him of the hard life can be in the Scottish Premiership, especially in away fixtures.

Martin also warned late-window Chelsea loan addition Shim Mheuka of the strength of the league. The 18 year old showed his eye for goal as he found the back of the net in Paisley, only for the goal to be ruled out by VAR.

When asked at last night’s post-match media conference about Mheuka’s impact, O’Neill responded: “He could be a proper player in time. He could be. I could see him starting, very easily. This is the whole point, we’ve got a couple of players that deep down you don’t really know exactly what they can do. Of course we’ve studied them, we’ve got their things and they’re coming in.

“But until they’re throwing into these games, I was speaking to wee Mika Baur afterwards, I said, ‘Mika, these games are hard.’ He’s played in the Bundesliga second division, he just got into the big league. The games are hard here. Sometimes they don’t realise how hard they are. But big Shim looks as if he wants to adjust to it.”