All things considered, that was a very routine day at the office.
The manager made the changes I predicted last night—Ralston came in, Yang came in, and McGowan played. I wasn’t surprised that he dropped Maeda, Kuhn, or Engles, far less AJ, who has played nearly every game. A couple of them got run-outs late on, but by then, it was mostly over, and we were in cruise control.
It’s the mark of a good team to make a difficult fixture look straightforward, and we did exactly that today. They held us earlier in the campaign and tried to frustrate us again. There was plenty of roughhousing in their play, and we got very little protection from the officials. But in the end, we simply had too much for them, even with some of the so-called fringe players. I don’t really like that term, because they’re all part of the squad and the side.
You could say we huffed and puffed a little in the early stages and made it harder for ourselves than it needed to be. Without our two electric wide men, they found it a lot easier to contain us. But once we started to play, once we put our foot down, we blew them away. And a couple of performances stood out a mile above the rest.
The midfield duo of McGregor and McGowan were excellent, with the captain particularly shining. He had a wonderful game, easily man of the match. His goal—the captain’s goal—came exactly when we needed it most. That’s what a captain does. He steps up, leads, and sets the example. He showed great composure and technical ability when he went through and put the ball in the net.
Jota, who won the sponsors’ Man of the Match, then started producing his own moments of magic. He was exceptional once he got going. It wasn’t just his excellent goal but all the little feints, flicks, tricks, and his crossing, which was second to none. He thoroughly deserved the plaudits after putting the ball in the net. Once we had the second goal, there was no way we were dropping points.
The third goal was Adam Idah’s answer to his critics, who might have been tempted to get on his case again. He had some frustrating moments today, times when he wasn’t quite as sharp as you’d hope. But he had a great header saved by the keeper, created chances for others, and then scored a beauty of a goal. He’s well entitled to be very happy with his performance.
These days, it’s all about putting yourself in the manager’s thoughts. Jota has already done that, though he was never going to be far from the manager’s mind. I thought Ralston had a really good game, but he’s not going to supplant AJ. As long as they’re both at the club, he will be the understudy, and he knows and accepts that. That’s why I like Ralston so much—he’s a good soldier. McGowan did himself no harm either.
But the one that really interested me was Jeffrey Schlupp. I thought he was tremendous—composed on the ball, technically excellent, with real presence. He’s a solid defensive unit, and he can hit a ball. Wow. That strike off the crossbar could so easily have ended up in the net, and if it had, we’d all be talking about nothing else. He is a contender to start on Tuesday. He had a great game.
So, that’s what we did today—we made a difficult fixture look humdrum, straightforward. When this Celtic team is on its game, they can do that to anybody. They can make any opponent look like they’ve turned up for an extended training exercise.
Don’t get me wrong, we weren’t just going through the motions. We rolled through the gears—slowly, steadily, surely—did what we had to do, and then turned the engine back down, keeping something in reserve for Tuesday. We’ll go into that game full of confidence and with plenty of energy.
In the aftermath, I looked at the stats, and they amuse me. I’ll cover one set of them in a different piece tomorrow, but these are the ones that matter tonight:
We’ve scored 76 goals in the league, making us the highest-scoring team.
We’ve conceded just 12, making us the lowest-conceding team.
We have 19 clean sheets. The best in the league.
We’ve had the most shots at goal—508 in total.
We’ve had the most shots on target—192.
Our goal difference is an absurdly good +64.
Ibrox’s is +32.
We’re on 69 points, well on course for another 100+ point campaign.
We’re averaging three goals per game, so hitting 100 for the season in the league doesn’t seem far off.
Combine that with our defensive stats, and it’s clear why we’re running away with this. And that’s important to note, because my next piece tonight is about the Ibrox fans’ bizarre insistence that we’re not watching a really good Celtic team. Their fantasy that, if their team were just a little better, they’d catch us is nonsense. The numbers do not lie.
We are miles ahead of everyone else. Whether they believe their little delusion or not, that’s all it is—a delusion. The numbers prove it.
We’re in league-winning form. So, it’s no wonder we’re going to win the league.
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
It was a workmanlike performance today, we were never really under any threat and hardly an anxious moment. Cruise control was the outcome. The main thing is that we are another step closer to the Title. Well done Bhoys, let’s keep the momentum going, no matter what happens in Munich, and let’s march towards the Treble.
Great and Fantastic figures indeed…
STATS exactly what we all wanna hear !
I was impressed today, we looked good all over the pitch, we scored brilliant goals and kept a clean sheet. What’s not to like? On to Tuesday, as always, I just want to see us play our best and whatever the result is is fair enough.
Nice
We were very efficient today in a fixture, that could possibly have been very tricky !
Well done to BR and all our squad !
Their consistency is something, we should all be hugely proud of, and never take for granted ! HH