Celtic’s goals are spread through the team. We no longer rely on a “30 goal striker” to function.

One striking feature of Celtic’s campaign so far is that neither of our strikers seems poised to finish with a towering goal tally.

And I’m not criticising either of them for that—far from it. You’d imagine that, with two such quality forwards, at least one would be looking at a 30-goal haul, a standard Celtic strikers once aimed for. But the landscape has shifted in this respect.

Both of our strikers put in a tremendous amount of work for the team, and their presence on the pitch only enhances our play. Either of them would stroll into any other Scottish side and be a guaranteed starter. For instance, there’s no equivalent across the city. They’d both easily walk into that lineup and play every single week.

But the expectation for our strikers to carry the goal-scoring burden has eased—not just this season, but in recent ones.

That’s because of the way the goals are spread across the Celtic team.

When you look at the numbers—Kyogo with six goals, and Adam Idah with five—you see a combined 11 goals between them. Yet that’s only one more than Nicolas Kühn has racked up on his own. This paints a clear picture of why we’re succeeding and why our forwards avoid the kind of scrutiny others face.

This was the unspoken element of the Kyogo vs. Dessers debate I touched on last week. The Ibrox team’s style of play forces them to rely heavily on one guy up front. Ours, on the other hand, is far more versatile and aggressive, spreading the responsibility. If Kyogo’s having an off day, Maeda or Kühn can step up to find the net.

That was the case last season as well. Consider that our top scorer was Matt O’Riley with 19 goals—tied with Kyogo. The fact that a central midfielder led in scoring demonstrates just how flexible and effective Celtic’s attack really is. Many of us worried that selling O’Riley would impact our goal count, but the reality? We’re scoring even more than at this point last year. But it’s not the raw total—it’s the distribution that matters.

Incredibly, this Celtic side has netted 54 goals already this season, with 30 of those coming from just four players: Kühn, Maeda, Kyogo, and Idah. Yet 24 goals are still scattered across the squad. That’s why we’re topping the table, thriving in Europe, and heading to a cup final. Our goal threat is diverse, unlike anything seen elsewhere.

It’s no longer inconceivable that we could end the season without a striker hitting 20 goals, let alone 30—and still be outscoring every other team week in, week out. That speaks to Brendan Rodgers’ adaptations, and particularly the way he has our wide men cutting inside and running and defenders and frequently scoring as a result of that.

We’re never overly reliant on any single player to score. Yes, Kühn’s numbers are remarkable—21 goal contributions through his goals and assists alone—but even without him, we’re a well-oiled machine with plenty of goal-scoring outlets.

Take this for context: Kühn has four league goals. He’s not our top scorer in the league—that’s McGregor with five, a tally that could well put him on course to surpass O’Riley’s from last season, although that would surprise me as he’s doing this from defensive midfield. Rodgers’ system rotates the midfield, allowing McGregor to move forward, adding another layer to our attack, but 20 goals is a hell of a lot to ask of him.

But Kyogo is also on four league goals, and so too is Alastair Johnston … our right back.

This is precisely why the fixation across the city on Dessers scoring more than Kyogo is utterly misplaced. Kyogo is a far superior footballer, but the reason Dessers receives so much criticism is that his team needs him to score constantly or they can’t function. They play in a way that requires most of the goals to come from their main striker. That’s not our issue at all.

And this is why we’re so confident heading into next month’s cup final against them. If we can neutralise their main forward, they have no Plan B. In contrast, if they focus on marking Kyogo, they leave Kühn open; if they mark Kühn, Maeda finds space; and if Maeda’s heavily marked, our midfielders can take them apart.

We simply have too much firepower.

That’s why we’re likely to overwhelm them, no matter their approach. It’s also why this Celtic side is exhilarating to watch.

For this reason, I don’t buy into discussions questioning whether Kyogo or Idah score enough. Of course, they do. This is a team effort, not just about individual players or positions. This is the real strength of a Brendan Rodgers side, and it’s why we’re set for an exceptional season both domestically and in Europe.