International break gives Brendan valuable scouting opportunity

Remember when Celtic couldn’t keep a clean sheet? Saturday’s 3-0 win against Inverness was our sixth domestic shut out since Craig Gordon returned to the team after Dorus de Vries injured himself attempting to stop that incredible goal Kilmarnock scored on 24 September.

To put that into some kind of perspective, it took the 20 domestic games before that run started to collate six clean sheets, stretching back to Morton’s visit on 6 March. The longest domestic clean sheet run we achieved last season was three games. Say what you like about the goals from Moussa and Scott Sinclair – and we’ve been spectacularly impressive in attack – but this is a runaway championship because of Celtic’s defensive record.

And what a runaway it is. Remember when we were told we needed the competition we’d see this season? Aberdeen started with a poor five games and we discover there’s not competition at all. There is no competition worthy of the name, just scintillating football, and the stands are fuller than they’ve been in years. We’ll take a look at the rest of the league later in the week.

Brendan Rodgers will spend the international break scouting footballers, his team isn’t finished by a long shot. Usual caveats apply, January is a difficult month, etc., no guarantees targets will want to come, or be available, in January or the summer, but a lot of plans are underway right now for next season’s Champions League.  There are absolutely no detectable plans for dealing with the domestic challenge.

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in November, winter is upon us and for many, a time of crisis looms. Watch this message from Brendan and the players – they are speaking to you and me.