Matt Smith confessed that Celtic are a "very good team", however he believes the manner that St Johnstone gifted the Scottish Premiership leaders goals on Saturday night was totally avoidable. 

Celtic netted six without reply to maintain their 100 per cent record, where they've also yet to concede a goal. 

Smith knows Brendan Rodgers' team are a formidable force and credited their ruthless approach, but that can't excuse the fact St Johnstone shouldn't be losing by such a high margin in front of their own support. 

Speaking after the full-time whistle in Perth, Smith said: "I think as professionals, at home, to lose 6-0, it doesn't matter who you're playing. I think it's frustrating and it hurts. 

"I’m not taking away from the fact think they're a very good team, but as a group we feel that some of the goals were definitely avoidable. 

"But yeah, they're a good team, we knew that, we were aware of that coming into the game and as I said before, some of the goals we switched off and you can't do that against teams like Celtic. They punish you. 

"They are just ruthless in what they're doing and we were aware of that, I think that's a frustrating thing."

(Image: PA)

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St Johnstone are still on the hunt for a new manager after Craig Levein's dismissal a fortnight ago.

On the prospect of a fresh regime at McDiarmid Park, Smith commented: "I think this is going to be a learning curve for us as a group, we don't know what's going to happen next, who's coming in or anything like that. 

"I think for us as players we've got to take accountability and say we've got to improve and we've got to get better. 

"It’s not just after today. If you look at the last few games, there's avoidables in the goals we concede and it's frustrating. 

"You speak about the same sort of things and it gets frustrating but no one is going to sort it out apart from us as players. 

"Especially when it's the basics of defending or tracking runners or doing the dirty side of the game. 

"As players we're the only ones who can control that sort of thing. I think as players as a group we've got to step up and use it as a clean slate to go again. 

"Goals are key in football and we've got to defend better as players and as professionals.  

"We've got to take accountability and that's a big word that we spoke about all week leading up to. 

"It's frustrating for the goals we concede but as a group you know it's not good enough and it has to improve, it's as simple as that."

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Next up is a trip to Ibrox with an improved Rangers side the hosts. 

Smith understands the challenging nature of the fixture, yet Smith is hopeful that St Johnstone can leave Glasgow with a positive result should they approach the game with the correct mentality. 

"They're not going to feel sorry for us, the situation we're in so it's going to be a tough game again," the Saints midfielder said.

"We're aware of that and we can't let this be a hangover from this. 

"If you start feeling sorry for yourself or things like that as a professional you'll get punished again. 

"So we've got to treat this week, I know it will be difficult, we'll talk about the game and reflect on it. But as a professional you can't go into a game feeling sorry for yourself, we've got to keep the spirits as high as you can. 

"It's not good enough if we lose 6-0 at home but as a group we've got to stay on the goal of picking up points in this league. 

"Going to Ibrox is tough, we've went to Old Firm teams before and got results so we've got to think in that mentality. 

"We've got to do it for us as professionals, for the fans and that's how it is. "