Mika Baur confident Celtic are building momentum ahead of Rangers double-header

Celtic midfielder Mika Baur believes the reigning champions are developing the confidence and momentum required to approach a huge double-header against Rangers in the coming weeks.

Celtic maintained their perfect start to the new Premiership campaign on Saturday night, coming from behind to beat St Mirren 2-1 in Paisley and record a fifth consecutive league victory.

Their attention now turns to St Johnstone, with Celtic travelling to Perth on Wednesday hoping to make it six wins from six.

After that, however, the focus will quickly switch to Rangers.

The first Old Firm meeting will take place at Ibrox in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals next weekend, before the two sides meet again at Celtic Park in the league just seven days later.

Baur insists Celtic are heading into that demanding period with increasing belief, although the German midfielder is refusing to look beyond Wednesday’s fixture.

“Of course you read a lot about the Rangers game,” Baur said. “But we have a game on Wednesday first against St Johnstone.

“We have to win that one, so my focus is on that match – then we can go for Rangers. It’s an exciting period. There’s nothing better than playing every three days.

“It’s play, recover, play again, but I really enjoy that. It also means you need every player to play a part because there’s a lot of minutes. But I look forward to the next 14 days.”

Baur has only recently established himself in the Celtic side, with the 22-year-old having made just three appearances and two starts since arriving from Paderborn during the summer.

The £6.8 million signing admits he is still adapting to the demands of playing in Scotland but feels his understanding of Celtic’s style is improving with every match.

“I’m still learning as this was only my third game and only my second start,” he explained. “Everything is still new and I’m still figuring out how everything works.

“It’s high intensity, there’s a lot of pressure in the duels, a lot of hard fights. But if we play our style and control it then I think we are capable of winning games. I think we are getting better.”

Baur embraces physical side of Scottish football

Despite not being the biggest player on the pitch, Baur has no concerns about adapting to the physical nature of Scottish football.

The German midfielder believes his willingness to compete and contribute away from possession will be just as important as his technical ability.

“I’m not the tallest,” he admitted. “But why should I be shy? It’s not just about playing nice football with the ball. There’s so much else you need to do. You need to do the dirty work sometimes.

“I learned to do that and I like it – I’ve no problem with it. I’ve heard there’s a lot of dirty work here, but I enjoy it.”

Baur has also praised the environment created by Martin O’Neill and his coaching staff since his move to Glasgow.

The midfielder has particularly benefited from working with Mark Fotheringham, who can communicate with him in German and has helped make his transition easier.

“It’s difficult to know what to expect when you are coming from a different country with a different style of football. But I am enjoying it,” Baur said.

“The manager has got so much experience. I just played in the second division in Germany and you can learn a lot from that.

“I had a very young coach who was in his first year. It was the complete opposite to here. I really enjoy it with the manager, and with Shaun and Mark as well.

“It’s a great staff and a great coaching team. I’m learning a lot. It’s been great with Mark. Sometimes it’s a mixture of English and German!

“He can be explaining something and he mixes in some German words. It’s good to have someone to speak with like that. It helps a lot.”

Carter-Vickers identifies area Celtic must improve

Cameron Carter-Vickers also believes Celtic still have plenty of room for improvement despite their perfect league record.

The centre-back was part of the side that eventually overcame St Mirren after the hosts took the lead, with Liam Scales and Hyun-jun Yang finding the net after the interval to secure another three points.

Carter-Vickers acknowledged that away matches against St Mirren are rarely straightforward and was pleased Celtic managed to leave Paisley with the victory.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had an easy or simple game at St Mirren,” he said.

“Pretty much whenever you go away from home you always expect it to be tough. In my six years here, I can’t remember an easy one against St Mirren.

“It was tough again so it was great to get the three points. In the first half I thought we actually played fairly well, minus the handball and penalty.

“They didn’t create that many chances and we created a fair few ourselves. But it was tough in the end and I was glad to win it.”

However, the American defender believes Celtic must become better at controlling matches when opponents begin to apply pressure.

He felt St Mirren created more opportunities late in the game after Celtic became less patient in possession and started playing longer passes.

“I think in general we can control games better,” Carter-Vickers added. “Most of their chances probably came after 70, 75 minutes.

“We started going a bit longer and we were giving them the ball back, the game was a bit more open and end to end, which didn’t really suit us. That’s definitely something we can improve.”

With St Johnstone next and two Old Firm meetings immediately after, Celtic will have little time to address those shortcomings. But their five wins from five have provided the perfect platform for what promises to be a decisive fortnight.