Everything Celtic right-back Alistair Johnston said to Sky Sports ahead of Flag Day versus Kilmarnock this Sunday...

What's next for Celtic?

We are coming off the tail-end of a very good pre-season just based on results. Not only that if you watched the way the boys played it was impressive.  I was blown away with it. I got to go and see the Manchester City match in person. I was over there in North Carolina, so I popped in and watched that one. You could see that the guys were taking on board exactly what the manager was asking. It is another year under Brendan under our belt and you could see the ideas really formulating. The idea is now to push on and be strong domestically. That's always our bread and butter. At the same time, there is a new Champions League format and it is going to be exciting as there are eight matches now. That gives us two extra matches to potentially give us a shot of making the next round. It's an exciting year in that sense. For us, it's all about being strong domestically and taking another step in Europe. We know that we have a team that can do it. We have shown it already in pre-season that we're ready for that. That is the plan.

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Two new goalkeepers - Kasper Schmeichel being one of them - how key is it to get that understanding with a new goalkeeper when you have been used to Joe Hart?

It is massive. Replacing Joe not only on the pitch but off it is really difficult. I think the manager did a great job with Kasper. He is a man with a ton of experience just like Joe. He is a big presence in the locker room. He still has plenty of quality and we saw that throughout pre-season. We have all been happily surprised with the level that he still has. I think he is going to prove a lot of people wrong just the same as Joe did when he came up here. A lot of people wrote him off and not because they doubted his quality just because he had been out of the limelight a little bit. He's been playing in France and Belgium for the past two years so he was kind of out of sight and out of mind. Now he's going to remind everybody of how much a quality goalkeeper he is. We have seen how good he is with his feet and some of the saves he made even just in my first two days at training have been unbelievable. I'm excited to build that relationship and trust with him as it is so important that you have a goalkeeper that instils confidence in the backline. 

What are your thoughts on the Scottish Premiership this season? You start against Kilmarnock on flag day. How difficult an opponent will they be? I know it was an impressive win down at Kilmarnock to clinch the title but they were tricky opposition last season. Do you expect more of the same?

We expect exactly the same. We are expecting them to push on as well. They have a European tie that is going on. They are going to be fresh and they have had a lot of big games to start this year. We are expecting them to push on from where they were last year. They were really tricky opposition in the past season and the manager has got them playing a difficult style of football to play against. We are expecting the exact same. It is not an easy day for us but when you have the crowd behind you on Flag Day and everything that is going on and all the emotion involved in that. I think it will be an exciting day for our supporters. We need to start the season right and there is no better way to do that than at home on Flag Day.