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Clues behind Celtic rise and Rangers fall

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

There are some interesting stats behind Celtic’s meteoric rise to the top of the league and Rangers equally spectacular collapse.

Prior to the 5th November Celtic had played 12 games, scoring 23 and conceding 12. Since then they have played and won 10 games, scoring 21 and conceding just 3 times.  So there hasn’t really been a significant increase in goals scored per game, but there has been a massive improvement in the defensive figures.  Nine different players have scored during this time with Hooper, Samaras and (despite injury) Stokes scoring three or more during this time.

By comparison, Rangers have scored 15 goals in their last 10 SPL games with the goals coming from six different sources.  Nikica Jelavic is their only player to have scored more than twice but he needed penalty kicks to achieve this.  This period corresponds to Steven Naismith’s absence from the team.

Incredibly, seven of Rangers 15 goals in these games have been either own goals or penalties.  Dundee United, Dunfermline and Motherwell players have all scored for Rangers while Rangers have benefited from four penalties.  In total these seven goals have earned Rangers six points.  Only one of Rangers 25 goals prior to this period was a penalty and none were o.g.s, so their period of good fortune coincided with their period of greatest need, a recurrent theme in the Scottish game.

None of Celtic’s 44 SPL goals this season have been scored by opponents and only one has come from the penalty spot, not that we seem to keen to score penalties.

The figures demonstrate the importance of having a variety of players who can contribute goals on a consistent basis as key strikers are always liable to injury or loss of form.  Hooper and Stokes have already missed chunks of this season and Georgios Samaras started the season in barren form.

Celtic’s figures are all the more stark considering their most prolific midfielder, Kris Commons, has failed to launch his season due to a frustrating few months of injuries.  Goal-scoring midfielders are a precious breed.

I was surprised at how little appetite Nikica Jelavic appeared to have for the contest at Celtic Park last week but a return of 2 goals from 10 games indicates the problem may be well established.  He spoke to a Croatian newspaper this week and – unlike his manager when asked about the player being sold this month – informed them he had no intentions of leaving Rangers and that he was “focussed on playing in Scotland”, although he did reference Rangers financial problems.

If Rangers are budgeting on selling Jelavic they may well find the player wants a piece of the action before agreeing to move on.

Thanks to BigchipsUK for the research on the SPL goal stats.

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  2. Neil canamalar Lennon hunskelper extrordinaire on

    happy buffday to ole dbbia, all the very best

     

    hail hail

  7. curly on

    DBBIA –

     

     

    Didn’t realise it was a whole year since I last called you “Auld Yin”, but here goes –

     

     

    Happy birthday Auld Yin!

     

     

    Ulcyr

  9. RaRaRasputin on

    The redundancies at the Record are part of a much wider demise in the traditional printed press around the world, so I’d caution against reading too much into them vis-a-vis any particular stories or issues currently doing the rounds.

     

     

    However, it should be a source of embarassment that keen amateurs at CQN, tic-tac-tic, RTC, et al. can consitently outdo full-time professional journalists at their own game.

     

     

    Clearly lots of people around the world want to read about Celtic, Rangers and Scottish football in general. The question remains whether anyone can make any money out of it for much longer.

  11. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    DBBIA

     

     

    Christmas,New Year,and now yer birthday?

     

     

    All in less than a fortnight?

     

     

    Ya daft sod,you’ll have nowt left to celebrate for the rest of the year!

     

     

    Hopefully,a championship will bridge the gap…..

     

     

    Awrabestbud.

  13. JohnnyClash on

    Dontbrattbakkinanger says:

     

    5 January, 2012 at 11:38

     

     

    “…. Mo Bangura’s treble winning hat-trick in the SCF against the Horribles.”

     

     

    Fingers crossed we don’t lose SuperMo to the EPL during the window.

     

     

    As for the ole Eurovision, I’ll need to put that one on hold for now as I await the arrival of a new set of strings. But imagine if you will, ‘Boom Bang a Bang’ in a bluegrass style. They’re gonna love it.

  18. hoopeddreams on

    Happy Birthday, dear DBBIA.

     

     

    Hope modern blowing out candles on a cake is not rubbish.

  19. Folly Folly on

    Hot news:

     

     

    Not only is it DBBIA’s birthday, but today is the day of the year when the earth is closest to the sun.

     

     

    You may not believe this, but today we roughly 3 million miles nearer to the sun than we were at the beginning of July.

     

     

    Everydayisaschoolday.csc

     

     

    (P.S. Red alert for podium chasers: tomtheleedstim has just appeared.)

  20. THE EXILED TIM on

    The young fella is moving back to scotland next week, Aberdeen to be precise in the search of a job, so if any of yous know of anything going I would appriciate any ideas, he has a CV that is up there with any 23 year old, works his baws off.

     

     

    He might just have to rethink his job direction now, never having been a jurno, I believe there are a few jobs going at the record, well he couldn’t do any worse than the ballones who are for the chop :>)

  21. ASonOfDan on

    Celtic want to try to get in for the striker Jay Bothroyd QPR (29). According to the Guardian, the former tip of Perugia could move to Scottish club on loan.

     

     

    Translated from Italian site.

     

     

    ‘The Tip od Perugia.’ :)

     

     

    HH

  22. KINGLUBO on

    Derek Riordan, don’t think so. We were glad to his backside out the door, a truly bad little character.No way,Jose. I’d rather sign wee Barry Ferguson or Jack the Ripper.

     

     

    Hail Hail

     

     

    KINGLuBO

  23. tomtheleedstim on

    Folly Folly – whoooo, get you!

     

    The closer sun must be getting to you mate – I jacked that game in after my only success about two years ago.

     

    Hehe.

  24. LiviBhoy on

    THE EXILED TIM says:

     

    5 January, 2012 at 12:11

     

     

    Can he play fitba? Aberdeen need some decent players.

     

     

    LB

  26. Folly Folly on

    ttlt

     

     

    Yes: but you have become a bellwether for new articles.

     

     

    Yesterday, Paul more or less admitted the same!

     

     

    FF

  27. stflannansbg on

    Summa of Sammi

     

     

    Happy New year From the Mick, Mick, and Pat at the Vatican in Werribee.Long time no see. Whit a great turn around since the geat British festival of Guy Fawkes Night. I believe a treble is a great possibility. I might watch the last game against the Sons of Atilla (H–s) still sound s better at the Celtic Club.

     

     

    Hail Hail!

     

     

    WGCDR

  29. Dontbrattbakkinanger on

    Many thanks for the kind wishes.

     

     

    I am still loadin’ the ole 16 tons, but your camaraderie and the good news about the potential demise of the Record has put a skip in the ole heart.

     

     

    If anyone is looking for a good read, perhaps Santa has given them a book token for 10/-, I strongly recommend the John Cairney book ‘The Sevenpenny Gate’.

     

     

    John is in his early 80s now, so he has supported the Hoops through thick and thin. The most interesting bits for me have been about the years covering wartime football, and before the return of Mr Stein as manager. John gives due praise to some of the good players we had at the time, and a well deserved shellacking to the Board.

     

     

    Plus ce change…I know that the BBC,SFA and the referees in the late 50s and early 60s were even less Celtic minded than they are now but a lot of our problems were still of our own making.

     

     

    Fix the XI.

     

     

    Maks sense tae me, and it maks sense tae Mo.

     

     

    Anyways,I’m away for a bounce game of Subbuteo, on an ole mattress.

  30. ASonOfDan on

    Twitter is rife with rumours over several big names being sacked from The Daily Record.

     

     

    Sports editor Jim Traynor is one of the names said to be leaving the Glasgow based newspaper, as well as Bob Caldwell. However, it is currently unclear if Traynor was sacked or resigned.

     

     

    There has even been rumours from one Tweeter that managing director Tom Hamilton is among the list of those who have lost their jobs.

     

     

    A Trinity Mirror spokesman said: “We can confirm we have entered into a confidential period of consultation with four senior members of staff from Media Scotland.”

  31. THE EXILED TIM on

    LiviBhoy

     

     

    He can, a bloody good one as well, imo he could walk into the Aberdeen team, seriously.

     

     

    But I think the oil industry is where he want’s to be.

  35. Billy's Bhoy on

    Bhoys on Mo Bangura I would like to concur with Italiabhoy that he is being written off too quickly and some of the comments about him have been grossly unfair. He has not yet had much game time and from what I have seen he is probably over eager to prove his worth. I think he needs time to settle and get some game time. When he scores his first full goal he will score again very regularly if played.

     

     

    I also think we will struggle to hold on to Hooper because there is a growing need in England to get English reared players in the EPL squads. Gary can score goals at any level in my opinion and will be of interest to many of the lower to middle clubs in the EPL or the top clubs of Championship. The plus side of that is we could get very good value for him.

     

     

    Remember what Jones went to Maure for from Blackburn and Henderson to Liverpool and in particular Carrol to Liverpool.

     

     

    Whilst I like Gary very much and would love him to stay I think he may be one to move on in this window or in the summer at which point I would like Mo Bangura to be ready and firing on all cylinders.

  37. Summa of Sammi.... on

    .

     

     

    Wing Commander..

     

     

    Happy New Year too You.. Buddi..

     

     

    We had a great Time on the 29th..About 60 of us Did the Huddle on the Southbank Bridge about 9am Heading to PJ’s..

     

     

    Hope yir Guid..

     

     

    001Bhoy

     

     

    PS..I Was asked to do the BhoysOfOz Phanzine again..Ha..

  38. LiviBhoy on

    THE EXILED TIM says:

     

    5 January, 2012 at 12:19

     

     

    Got a few mates offshore. Believe they are recruiting at the moment.

     

     

    LB

  40. LiviBhoy on

    whitedoghunch says:

     

    5 January, 2012 at 12:23

     

    a source tells me the job cuts are mostly down to saving sheckles.

     

     

    A purely bang for buck excercise then?

     

     

    LB

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