Auston Trusty insists he and his Celtic teammates never once doubted they would win last season's Scottish Premiership.
The Parkhead side were doing the chasing last season instead of setting the minutes, and were only actually top for a few minutes at the end of the final day decider with Hearts, scoring two late goals to win 3-1.
They would go on to secure a double after beating Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup final, showing grit and determination with Martin O'Neill having a huge impact as interim boss.
However, the performance of the club is being viewed as below-par in comparison to the extremely high standards previously set.
However, Trusty feels there are so many postives to take.
Currently at the World Cup in his homeland with the USA squad, he said: “Some may view the season as a negative for Celtic, but also it was such a positive. It showed the true tenacity and willingness of a team and organisation to find a way to win. It was such a remarkable and amazing season.
“It’s a lot easier to chase instead of being chased. We’re so used to being chased.
Read more
Celtic open Marcelo Saracchi transfer talks but key obstacle emerges Can Balikwisha revive his Celtic career? Four-word mantra, what O'Neill has said
“So they flipped the script and we showed ourselves that we can win the league by 20 million points if we want to.
“Or if we need to chase the league, we can do that as well. The winning mentality we have shone through.”
The centre-back says the reaction to Celtic slipping slightly below what is expected only goes to show just what the club represents.
“This season kind of showed what Celtic is," he added. "A lot of times in football, especially fans and organisations that are used to winning the entire time, in the history of Celtic they’ve had a great formula to have success year by year.
“When that formula gets messed up or messed with, you can have different results. But Celtic is a winning culture. That’s why you go there. It really is that culture.
“The entire season, I knew we were going to win. We all knew we were going to win.”
