Livingston manager David Martindale believes Celtic will inflict more heavy defeats this season

Livingston manager David Martindale expects Celtic to subject other teams to the kind of thrashing witnessed at Tannadice on Sunday.

Celtic posted their record away win and consigned Dundee United to the heaviest home defeat in their history as the Premiership champions ran out 9-0 winners.

Martindale’s side host United in the League Cup second round on Wednesday and he was keen to highlight the strengths of Ange Postecoglou’s team rather than look too much into his next opponents’ problems.

“That will not be the last time Celtic do that to teams,” Martindale said.

“Dundee United will be coming here with a point to prove and that will make our job even more difficult.

“I know some of their players, I know the coaching staff and there is no way on earth they are going to take that lying down. It’s going to make our job very, very difficult.

“If I’m honest, I’d rather Dundee United were coming here with a wee bit of complacency, which will definitely not be the case.

“But I don’t think Dundee United will be the last team that Celtic do something very, very similar to this season.

“I think they are deploying tactics that some teams have maybe not picked up on as yet but there is no doubt Ange has massively transformed the way Celtic play. Their recruitment has been very, very good, Ange has proven to be a very shrewd signing and they are a top, top team.

“I’m really looking forward to Celtic-Real Madrid, Rangers-Liverpool, watching our top teams play against Europe’s top teams. I’m really, really excited about that and really looking forward to seeing how Ange does against Real Madrid. I think he will have a go.

“Massive credit to Celtic and Ange and if I was Dundee United, I wouldn’t read too much into it because I don’t think they will be the last team that Celtic put six, seven, eight, nine past.”

The fifth consecutive defeat continued United’s dreadful early form under Jack Ross, who has seen his side ship 23 goals in four matches.

Martindale said: “I genuinely think Jack’s a fantastic manager and they have great players on paper. They are going through a tough spell.

“Let’s not forget about the opposition. Celtic have shown how good they are, Alkmaar are a top Europa group side.

“I hope Dundee United and Jack turn it round but not too quickly because I want to get through to the next round.

“And I’m sure he will get there. Jack is a very, very clever manager who has good staff round about him. There are good people at Dundee United who are doing good things so I don’t think it will be too long before they turn that round.”

Livi are also looking to bounce back from a 5-0 defeat at Aberdeen with all of the goals coming after Jack Fitzwater’s red card late in the first half.

“With 11 v 11, I was more than happy with the performance,” Martindale said.

“You have to strip it back into isolation, we got beat with 10 men, two penalties against us, three unopposed shots from 12 yards, a decent finish for their second. The game’s done, put to bed, dissected. I’m not worried about it at all.”