I was annoyed at Dundee United, who were poor in the first half – not even setup defensively as well as teams near the bottom of the table, but then flipped into an effective pressing side late in the game. They are third in the table on merit and could have caused Celtic more trouble, had they gone for it earlier in the game.
So much of the football we watch is ‘Defence v Attack’, so all in the stadium were alarmed when it was announced that Nicolas Kuhn had dropped out of the lineup before kick-off. Nicolas is our most effective opener of tight defences, and the late change seemed to impact Celtic’s flow. Early in the game the ball most often went left, to Taylor and Maeda; Johnston and Yang were less involved.
23 minutes in, however, Johnston found Yang (unconventionally) to create the opening goal. United manager Jim Goodwin was correctly annoyed at his defence, who had chances to clear, but were not as sharp as Daizen Maeda.
Luis Palma made a late cameo appearance, flavoured with a delightful outside of the foot pass to create the opening for the second goal. The pass was followed by a perfect example of ‘less is more’. Another cameo – Paulo Bernardo – dummied the ball before it rolled into the path of Reo Hatate to score.
That defeat at the start of the month seems a long time ago now.
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https://x.com/ScotlandSky/status/1877455479057641686?t=aFpO0GOmg7zzrewPv-UTLA&s=08
Brother Aitken yet again
Gave every time for standing on opponents foot like that.The whole challenge was clumsy.VAR the culprits.
Mc Cann.What an ass kissing wee fan boy he is.
https://x.com/emiratesfacup/status/1877451503029371266?s=48
Vata
Stopped goal scoring opportunity
Dundee failed in the old ‘play the whistle’ test – they have now shot their bolt. Penalty or not they should not have switched off.
On the other hand – if Dundee score again 😀😀
Sutton says it was never a penalty, just a coming together when they are both looking up at the ball.
Boyd says it would have been soft but then says it could have been given.
Go figure.
I didn’t think it was a penalty and would be annoyed if it was given against us but can see why you all thought it was.
If anyone has their foot trod on anywhere in the pitch the rules are clear that it is a free kick.
Whether circus acts like Sutton think so or not.
From jobo
*SENTINEL CELTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2024-25*
*RESULTS FROM GAME #31 CELTIC 2 DUNDEE UNITED 0 (MAEDA, HATATE)*
Good evening, friends.
A bitterly cold evening at Celtic Park seemed to encourage our players to run around a little bit quicker than of late, with the match starting at a decent pace and remaining that way for most of the first half. Yet again, though, not too many chances created despite our 400% possession, playing against the most defensive minded team I’d seen at Celtic Park this season.
An early corner from Engels almost resulted in a repeat from last weekend but this time Trusty’s header clipped the bar. But midway through the first half we made the breakthrough when McCowan’s shot was only parried by the goalkeeper back towards the penalty spot, with Daizen Maeda than pouncing on the loose ball to fire Celtic in front.
The second half saw Dundee United be a little more adventurous and with the scoreline remaining 1-0 there were a couple of nervous moments in front of Kasper’s goal, particularly a shot from Middleton which Schmeichel did well to turn around his near post.
The points were finally secured on the 83rd minute. Having no left foot to speak of, substitute Palma curled in a cross from the left with the outside of his right peg which evaded everyone but was collected by Maeda. The ball was returned back in and a Bernardo dummy left it clear for Hatate to fire a well placed shot into the net. Although I’ve since seen some references to a ‘double dummy’ I’m not sure that Bernardo’s decision not to jump for the initial cross counts as one!
As for last night’s songsheets from both ends of the ground it was humourus to a point but hopefully the issue is now put to bed. I’m pretty sure the only song for the 15 players who actually played last night was for Reo after the 2nd goal but happy to be corrected on that.
Another victory, another clean sheet and the gap at the top increased to 16 points with our nearest challengers only having 18 games remaining.
We have now played 31 games this season, winning 23, drawing 6 and losing 2. We have scored 84 and conceded 23 (domestically it’s 74-13 and in Europe it’s 10-10).
Worth noting that last season we ended up playing 50 games, scored 115 and conceded 50. We will definitely play another 20 games this season as a minimum. We need to score at least 32 and concede less than 27 to better last seasons ‘for and against’ totals. I’m pretty certain we will.
Thank you so much to the 74 who voted this time around, bang on the average turnout for the season to date. The total votes cast for each player are as follows, with my own nominations asterisked. Of the 15 players who contributed, only 2 failed to secure a single vote….
Schmeichel: 1
Johnston: 2
Carter-Vickers: 14
Trusty*: 39
Taylor*: 20
McGregor: 7
Engels*: 71
McCowan: 15
Yang: 2
Idah: 0
Maeda: 37
Hatate: 8
Kyogo: 0
Palma: 1
Bernardo: 5
And so, the players receiving POINTS for the game against Dundee United are –
Engels – 5 points
Trusty – 4 points
Maeda – 3 points
Taylor – 2 points
McCowan – 1 point
And the overall positions after 31 games played are –
52 points – Kuhn
41 points – Bernardo, Scales
36 points – Hatate, Schmeichel
38 points – Maeda
37 points – Engels
33 points – McGregor
29 points – Trusty
22 points – Carter-Vickers
21 points – Johnston A
19 points – McCowan
17 points – Valle
16 points – Taylor
14 points – Kyogo
7 points – O’Riley
5 points – Idah
4 points – Forrest
3 points – Welsh
1 point – Yang
0 points – Holm, Johnston M., Nawrocki, Palma, Ralston, Turley
And finally, here’s where this season’s 84 goals have been credited:
*Goalscorers table*
16 – Kuhn
14 – Maeda
10 – Kyogo
8 – Idah
7 – Hatate
6 – McGregor
5 – Engels
4 – Johnston A
3 – Bernardo, McCowan, Scales
1 – Carter-Vickers, Ralston, Taylor, Trusty
1 Own Goal
Total Goals – 84
Our next game is on Saturday when we travel to face Ross County. It’s a 12.30 kick off.
Hail Hail!
Penalty to rangers coming up
B78 trying his hardest to be the biggest shock jock on here.
Calm down petal. You’re miles ahead 🤡
Ref in the huns game would be as well pulling on a Rangers jersey .
Even with the ref help they still bang average
Late stamp no card
This guy is more bias than Beaton
Think Aitken on var is worse!
indeed mickeybhoy
all of europe are talking about it!!
Ooft, offside?
2-1 Dundee being checked by VAR. we all know how this ends. 😡💩🤷🏼♂️
Its a goal, for Dundee….
But the flag is up….(immediately)
Cracking goal, waiting on the squiggly lines.
Didn’t expect anything else. Be interesting to see the pictures of the lines.
VAR says offside.
Euclid comes to the rescue…
Real shame. Was a wonderfully worked goal.
Tiffany and Murray are having great games.
Wow! I just seen rangers equaliser against Dundee. 3 fouls & a handball in the lead up to. With each clear & blatant foul Neil mcvann can be heard saying “not for me”. Disgraceful stuff but to be expected
Kiss of death. They are both about to be subbed. I assume due to the running they have done.
How tight was that offside goal.?Once again the lines prove nothing.Great goal as well.Mc Can n frantically looking all over for someone off.
Cheating just to finish 2nd😂
Great save by Carson
I am praying for at least the draw.What a miserable journey back to their pits.
Holm on loan to LAFC
Unlucky Dundee, creating the better chances
LAFC?
ordinary joe on 9th January 2025 8:27 pm
wHO THEY.
!!bada bing!!
Hasn’t really had any game time under Brendan
That said, with Welsh gone, again no game time and possibly Palma, we are losing players who have some ability.
Has Bernabei sale been confirmed yet?
Yilmaz, yet another to avoid a yellow card, and then subbed