Nicolas Kuhn reveals Celtic injury exile was 'painful' as he vows to be fully firing in time for Rangers
Nicolas Kuhn insists Brendan Rodgers won’t allow his Celtic squad to lose sight of Saints with Rangers on the horizon.
The Hoops could all but kill off the Ibrox club’s faint title dreams with a victory on January 2 with the Light Blues a mammoth 12 points behind going into this weekend’s round of fixtures. But Kuhn – who was back with a bang from injury in the 4-0 Boxing Day win against Motherwell – is adamant the manager won’t tolerate any of his men getting distracted with St Johnstone up first at Parkhead tomorrow.
The wide man said: “It’s not too difficult for us. We always focus on the next game. We saw what happened in the last one but we just focus on the next match and getting the three points. Then we will see what is coming. There are the same amount of points available in this game as the next one. That’s how we did it last season and we are doing this time – we always focus on the next game.
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“We have done a great job so far. We only have one loss – and that was in the Champions League. We learned from that one as well. I am not too stressed about it. We just try to keep going and get as many points as possible.
“The manager plays a really big part. He always gets us ready for the next game. He builds the team and keeps us feeling good. He keeps us down to earth and focuses on the next game.”
Kuhn came off the bench to notch his 13th goal of the season in the Well win and he’s already topped his best scoring season of his career. The 24-year-old – who sat out the Dundee United draw – is determined to keep the foot down for the second half of the season. He said: “It was still a bit painful but it was good to be back. The goal was not the nicest I’ve scored but I will take it.
“It’s nice to pick up where I left off. I just tried to continue the way I’ve started this season and I was happy to get the goal. But the most important thing was the three points.
“I feel good. I am really happy at the club, with the team and all the people here. I enjoy playing. Do I have a taste for goals? Yes. Maybe at the end I could have taken another shot but I wanted to get the assist!
“It’s nice to assist too. I don’t really set targets. The most important thing for me is to stay fit after a full pre-season with the team.
“I have felt fit all season so hopefully it will be fine and I am back 100 per cent soon. This has been my best return now and there are still a lot of games to come.
“You can’t play in all of them but I am happy to be back and I want to continue. My ambitions are just to stay fit and keep going.”
