Callum McGregor: Celtic can get back on the horse quickly on Boxing Day

Callum McGregor insists Celtic will consign their Dundee United draw to history and focus on getting back to winning ways against Motherwell on Boxing Day.

Brendan Rodgers’ men were not at full strength due to illness and injury but they dominated the William Hill Premiership game at Tannadice on Sunday, failing in the end to get the breakthrough against a well-organised home side.

It was only the second time this season that Celtic have dropped points in the league – the other lapse from perfection was a 2-2 draw against Aberdeen in October – and they ended the weekend with their lead over Rangers at the top of the table cut to nine points.

Ahead of the visit of the Steelmen on Thursday, the Hoops captain said: “The lead we have has been a product of how good we’ve been this season.

“But we don’t want to have too many of these days where you start to chase your tail a little bit.

“We understand what the problem was and we dust ourselves down and move on from it.

“In parts of the game we were pretty good, so let’s put that to bed quickly.

“We can get back on the horse quickly on Boxing Day and try to get three points, and then it just rolls on again.

“We’ve been here many times before and we know how to handle it. So I’m pretty sure we will be okay.

“It’s hard to go through the season and be perfect.

“You’ll get five or six of those games throughout the season and generally, you’ll find a goal and you’ll find the quality.

“It was just one of those days but then, we pick up the point and it keeps us moving in the right direction.

“So, like I said, there are a lot of games coming up and we don’t want one result to turn into two and snowball from there.”

McGregor revealed the mindset of the Celtic dressing room following a rare domestic setback.

The midfielder, who picked up the club’s 119th trophy last week when Celtic beat Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup final at Hampden Park with a penalty shootout, said: “The success that we’ve had over a long period of time now means every dropped point feels like a defeat, it feels like the end of the world.

“It’s good for the players to see that and understand how it feels, because we’re a team that’s used to winning all the time.

“Sometimes you learn a wee bit more when you drop points or you lose.

“Sometimes it’s okay to be disappointed and feel hurt and try to use that momentum in the coming games.

“The boys speak about it all the time. As soon as you drop points it feels like you’ve lost.

“It’s a weird feeling, the place is quiet and it doesn’t have its usual feel.

“You try and limit the amount of times throughout the season that you feel like that.

“When it does happen then the players feel it amongst themselves and they do everything they can to put it right in the next game.

“We’re quite good in that sense, the players do really feel it.

“They really understand when we don’t win a game of football that it hurts you and you want to do everything you can to put it right.”