Big Ange sets lofty targets for this team. He really does. I find it amazing that he has set the team a target of winning the last eight games and thus breaking the records set by our best team in the modern era.
If he wins a treble on top of that, whose side is truly the most impressive? And how do you judge that stuff anyway?
I never thought I would see a higher points total than that campaign. I thought that the idea of an Invincible Treble wasn’t a complete stretch – teams have had unbeaten league campaigns on several occasions – but I believed that points total would stand the test of time, never to be repeated and certainly never to be bettered.
That it’s even a possibility at this stage in the season is incredible.
And if the boss actually pulls it off, I think this team has a great claim on having the greater accomplishment. They might get a fancy title – The Invincibles is a pretty great one – but they will have proven themselves even more consistent.
Which is faintly miraculous.
I think this team plays better football than the Invincible team. I think it has more goals in it and it has a better defensive unit. I think they are more a front foot team and the squad, overall, has a much better balance to it.
The manager is another thing entirely. Rodgers said all the right things, but he never handled the media the way this man does. He didn’t do humility in the way Ange does.
Rodgers always came off as slightly saccharine even when we believed that he was broadly sincere. Ange speaks with such passion, and obvious honesty, that it’s night and day.
He also fights for the club more than Rodgers did. I think we’re happier, overall, than we were then, and with the direction of the club in the main. We trust that Ange is in total command. Did we ever have that impression about Rodgers? Certainly not by this stage of season two when there were already obvious cracks developing.
There are no obvious problems here behind the scenes. Some players might be considering their options for the summer, but that would only be an issue if the manager didn’t have such a fine strike rate when it comes to successful signings.
The form of the team is as good as I’ve ever seen it.
The form in Rodgers’ first campaign was absurdly good. But there was a drop off in form in the second. Here the reverse is true. After a tough settling in period Celtic has just continued to get stronger.
To me this is a better side than the Invincible team, and they are on their way to proving it. I think whether they hit the points record or not, if they win the treble they’ve have proved it although they might never get the title.
For some fans, I understand that it will take breaking the record before the conversation can be had. For others there will be no discussion of the Invincible side being compared with a team which isn’t Invincible, and there is merit in both of those arguments.
This is one of the times I hope for a lot of responses in the comments section, with people stating their own view on this. It’s a nice debating point, and one I look forward to having if we do manage to go on and achieve what would once have been thought impossible.
This is best Celtic team since early 70’s. HH
You said, “We trust that Ange is in total command. Did we ever have that impression about Rodgers? Certainly not by this stage of season two when there were already obvious cracks developing.” That sums up the attitude of the board at that time and resulted in Rodgers leaving. They seem to have changed their thinking now and Ange has a lot more control. Perhaps if they had backed Rogers more at the time the whole scenario might have been different.
Think I’ll always flip flop. Folk will be automatically inclined to think a team who didn’t lose a single game in 3 competitions, 2 of which are knockouts, have to be the best. And yet if the goals, points totals are surpassed along with a treble you kind of have to think this is the best. This team and manager has more consistency and longevity than that of Rodgers
The invincible treble was incredible. So saying, if the current squad get through the season dropping only 5 league points while lifting a treble, that would be something else. Which is the better team? You know what? It doesn’t matter. We were rightly proud of and enjoyed the invincibles. We are rightly proud of and are enjoying the current squad who never stop. Does that make them “The Unstoppables?” The point is, they are two fabulous Celtic teams who will fill positions one and two in the greatest Scottish League teams ever list.
Personally, I still think the Lions, who played in a different era, clinched the 1967 league at ibrox, home of the runners up in (at the time) Europe’s second ranking tournament. To win the Glasgow Cup (played for by the 1st teams** in those days) we had also to account for Clyde who finished in 3rd spot in the Scottish league that season. It was a different era when no team was as consistently dominant as we see today.
Lets enjoy what we have today and hope for more, much more, tomorrow and the days after.
**The original Rangers, fed up getting beaten by us in the 1st 9 in a row era, agitated for the Glasgow Cup to become a youth team tourney which led to the famous chant.
“The Huns are scared to play us!” We had just as much fun in those days as we are having now.
Interesting debate, while I agree that this Celtic team is the best footballing team since TB’s team, and beating the 106 points total would be a fantastic achievement and would probably never be beaten, but, to win a treble and not lose a game is remarkable and, for me, would need to be the greater accomplishment.
More of a debate come the end of season I would say James.
Definitely the most attractive footballing team I’ve witnessed even above the seville team imo.
Don’t really like making comparison between team’s as each successful team warrents there place within our unbroken history.
The depth in quality within this current celtic team is by far the best I’ve ever seen and will possibly become even stronger still.
A team definitely worthy of writing there own history and worthy of doing so, but until its actually been achieved then getting a little to far ahead of ourselves for the time being, I would say still
You have also got to take in the fact Rodgers team were up against a pish poor sevco
For me the Martin O’Neil team that won the Treble in the 2000-2001 season is the best we have had since the Lisbon Lions and therefore the very best we have had in the modern era. I will just name you a dozen players out of that particular squad to reflect on, in no particular order.
Agathe, Stubbs, Mjalby, Valgaeren, Boyd, Lennon, Petrov, Lambert, Thompson, Sutton, Larsson and Moravcik.
Now As far as I am concerned we have absolutely no one, and I mean not a single one, in our present side who can hold a candle to their counterparts in that great squad. The present team will never equal the collective skills of that particular group.
And they absolutely demolished the huns 6-2. 🙂
I notice you omit the Goalkeeper Johnny fairly critical to any team – Rab Douglas vs Joe Hart !!! Also are you really saying CalMac couldn’t get in that team ahead of either Lennon or Lambert (as we never really needed both players anyway)??
I agree that team was extraordinarily powerful and would easily bully our existing team into submisssion but it wasn’t without its weaknesses which means improvements could be made to it….
J G
And it looks as if they didn’t even need a goalie. ?
Will the present team be better than the Invincibles if they break their points record. well let’s wait until that is real before commenting on it.
Agree Johnny but loved that team even more when Bobo joined soon after. Boavista, beachballs (still got my massive Larsson tongue out banner), Seville with the Porto fans was special for that team too and we lost the league. This team is sparkling though but Hart is no Rab Douglas ha ha
Don’t think it’s fair really tae compare the sides and tae say none of this team could hold a candle tae M O’Neill’s is just rubbish. Players like Hetate, Calmac, prob Mooy and Kyogo, could easily have fitted in those 2001 onwards sides under Martin O’Neill. As for big Balde, only as good as his next mistake and sorry, still hold him mostly culpable for us losin the 2003 Uefa final. That mad rush of blood weakened us big time and cost us the game imo.
Burns, O’Neill, Rodgers and Ange in my time have been superb in their playing style.
@Kevan, your welcome and entitled to opinions also, nobody controls the other’s thoughts. As JimBhoy alluded to these are managers and teams over different times, different demands and differing talents with differing playing styles. Football’s a game of opinions and yes comparisons can be made if we want to. No harm in this and fair don’t even come into it. At the end of the day this about comparing records and it seems it’s only the individual’s truth mixed wi a bit o’ nostalgia in some cases no doubt.
O’Neill’s and Tommy’s teams had great style and flair but were up against better league opposition and quality than the current bag o’ pish we played or play week in week out then and now under Rodgers and Ange teams. Rodgers sideway possession game was with less flair, style and energy than Ange’s team but both were or are against weaker opposition imo. Simply put Kyogo is no CL winning class Larsson no more than Mooy is a European top prize winner like Lambert. Thankfully O’Neill and Tommy’s teams played on grass, not limited by plastic pitches. Cal and Hatate mibbies be in with a shout but mibbies no, they’d be in my squad. Bobo and Mjalby would eat Starfelt for breakfast. Bobo did have faults too though somehow managed to reach that European final against a fine Porto team, at diving and time wasting anyway. Hart at his peak was better than Douglas no doubt, but he’s not at his peak. Funny auld game fitba.
@ SSMPM. Fair comment and ah get your point. Tho what ah was meanin by the comparisons bein unfair, was that through the years, these are all different era’s with different circumstances wi regards tae opposition etc. and managerial styles. Agree, there’s certain players who by their own merit, would’ve fiited intae most of these era’s, the rest is just surmise really and nothin wrang wi a debate on that. Tho tae make all out comparisons regardin one successful Celtic team against another these past decades, (Unlss we’re talkin about the lions of course) ah don’t think we realistically can. There’s always factors that make all these teams unique. Anyhow, the team(s) of the early 90’s get ma vote. Macari, Carl Muggleton, Wayne Biggins. Noo THERE was a team !
Aye well. One of my favourite ever players at CB for Celtic was Paul Elliott, whom I think we signed from Roma, though can’t remember if Liam or Lou was manager at the time.
Funnily enough, whenever I am asked to pick my best ever Celtic side, a very tough thing to do, Paul Elliott is my number one choice at centre half. Cesar is our greatest CH for lots of other reasons, but Paul Elliot was a better player than Billy, in my humble opinion.
Billy McNeil signed Paul Elliot.
I agree that this side is better than the invincibles James, the style of football is much more attacking and we’ve got a goal threat from every position except for Joe Hart for obvious reasons. I think we’ll win every game between now and the end of the season and go on to win the treble as we’re the most dominant side in Scotland by a country mile. Ange won’t let complacency creep into our game either his philosophy of one game at a time will ensure that, it’s a simple mantra but so effective. If the semi-final is a level playing field, which as Celtic supporters is all we ask, then I’m convinced we’ll win, but will it be? As long as we’re not talking about the referee or a contentious VAR call making the difference then I think we’ll be fine. I know you’ve spoken about VAR working and that it’s the officials who are the problem and I agree 100% with that but the club’s need to push for a change in refereeing instead of saying it’s a difficult job because it’s not, it’s only difficult if you make it that way. In my opinion the SFA and SPFL need gutted from top to bottom as they’re holding the game back in this country by fawning over themselves to help one club. It’s why the national side aren’t qualifying for tournaments because we’ve got good players but there’s no money going into grass roots football either. If the clubs don’t have the appetite for change the supporters need to do something because we’re becoming a laughing stock the world over.