Kyogo confidence returns

150

Two corner kicks within 5 minutes midway through the second half put Celtic out of St Johnstone’s reach yesterday.  Both corners were taken short, passed to the edge of the box, before the ball was returned behind the defensive line.  It looks like a training ground set-piece strategy, which delivered.

A second straight 4-0 win, albeit over weaker opposition like Motherwell and St Johnstone, confirms an end to Celtic’s poor run of form, which saw draws at Zagreb, Hampden and Tannadice.  Maybe we just have better sports scientists, but the team look rested and ready for each game.

Kyogo will not score an easier goal than the header he put into an empty net from 1 yard out on 59 minutes.  Our key striker has looked short of confidence for some time, but that easy conversion opened the door for a superb strike a few moments later.

Those goals brought Kyogo’s tally of league goals to 8 this season, four of which were scored against St Johnstone.  It’s almost as though he is saving them up for a special occasion.

January will be a testing month, with nine games across three competitions, but we look in good shape for it.

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

150 Comments
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4

  1. bigrailroadblues on

    A great day with Leggy, BMCUWP, Thelurkintim and Saltires en Sevilla. Fine Celtic men and great company.

  2. theBHOYfromU.N.C.L.E on

    Schmeichel said to Brendan when the approach was made ” I would walk through walls to sign for Celtic”

     

     

    theholyghost CSC

  3. bournesouprecipe on

    AN DÚN on 30TH DECEMBER 2024 2:21 PM

     

     

     

    Well done, Brendan Rodgers. What. A. Manager.

     

     

    …………………………………

     

     

    Totally agree, surpassed his Invincibles so far from his first spell and vastly improved CL results. He’s bought better players and even helped make VAR pretty irrelevant along the way. He’s bought better players and uses his resource better than any previously in the the modern era. The sooner he signs up to his contract extension the better for Celtic in the long term.

     

     

    Complacency from a Celtic board is for yesterday, I hope he gets his players targeted in the January window ‘over the line’ early with such a busy fixture list.

  4. thems blog.

     

     

    their battle fever is now a stay in bed man flu.

     

     

    they are chicking tickets up for resale by the hundreds.

     

     

    and cancelling their direct debits for the SFA cup,

  5. ADVERTISEMENT
  6. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    TB – I hear you.

     

     

    Adam’s close range side footer with the wrong foot against Motherwell was, IMHO, the most important goal we scored last season.

  7. On FF,

     

    ” Fek me we are doomed.Don Rhebel Robertson,Referee,Walsh,Danny Mc Farlane on VAR.Another two Tarriers

     

    Only two of us and they are linesmen.What fekin use are they.A stitch up”

     

     

    Well,we can only hope.

  8. ADVERTISEMENT
  9. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    Tin hat maybe but I think Jack Butland was fouled by Tony Watt.

     

     

    Slight tug of the arm of an outfield player is different to the same on a goalie.

  10. !!Bada Bing!! on 30th December 2024 7:23 pm

     

    Rumour time again- KT 2.5 year contract

     

     

    ——————–

     

     

    arsenal supporting pal told me yesterday that kt is holding out for a celtic move even though interest from other premier clubs.

     

     

    lets see.

     

     

    meanwhile Celtic exchange have John Kenney in the squad for ibrox.

     

     

    lets see.

     

     

    meanwhile Jotas fitness has been called out by rennes manager

  11. lets all do the huddle on

    Nobody said it should have been chalked off.I said if a forward touches a keeper at a corner,it usually,gets chalked off.Which it does.People always disagree on this,even two of the five did.

     

     

     

    i kind of agree with this.

     

     

    generally when a keeper is jumping for a ball in the 6 yard box he will get the foul if he is even slightly touched.

     

     

    when a keeper jumps with his arms up to claim the ball he will be about 2 feet above the forward. the forward cant claim to be going for the ball, he has no chance of getting near it at that height unless he has had a massive runny which Watt didnt, so all he can be doing is playing the keeper and not the ball, so a foul.

     

     

    but when they are given they do look soft as hell, and specifically on buttlands attempt, he made an hash of it.

     

     

    but i side with the keepers union because of my goalkeepimg day 45 years ago in primary school!

  12. JackieMac,

     

    Palace v Southampton game last night,almost identical incident.Goal given.Quotes,

     

    “Probably the only League in the world where that goal would have stood,the EPL”

     

    As I said,its all on opinions.Anyway,who cares?.

  13. ADVERTISEMENT
  14. You should all look at the goal in the Crystal Palace & Southampton game yesterday. Palace scored and it went to VAR. Was way more contact with the goalie than in the Butland challenge, but VAR didn’t rule it out.

  15. SAINT STIVS on 30TH DECEMBER 2024 6:26 PM

     

     

    dafty phil says only a couple of weeks ago we were competing with Spurs and Celtic and defending well. forgetting they lost 3 goals against us.

     

     

    he is the chief delusional officer.

     

     

    In my lifetime THEMS have had 18 managers although the first one that I can remember was scott symon who they pumped while sittin on top of the league and having given him a war chest that summer ,which was a first for them as they had their own orange club tin.

     

     

    Although they have had allegedly 13 caretakers, some of them more than once, but IMHO that effin brussel sprout is the worse tactically and tactfully, he’s as they say over here “a french fry short of a happy meal”

  16. What’s worse to me on the field than keepers being over protected,is the defender in trouble,feels the breath of the forward behind him,and collapses.FOUL !!!!!!.Does my head in.Every game,it happens.

  17. ADVERTISEMENT
  18. TB – I accept your point ! we get decisions, others get decisions. The thing is though we must remain vigilant against bias – there are patterns in the refereeing of them which show indubitable bias

  19. from my old warehousing days i always liked the reference,

     

     

    he is two plalets short of a full load.

  20. Turkeybhoy on 30th December 2024 7:38 pm

     

     

    i thought we had a great team game on sunday, but the biggest interuption to our flow was the pernickity main stand linesman and the referee.

     

     

    saint johnstone played imho, very fiarly without resorting to stupid fouls.

     

     

    another new pet hate, the left back coming out to stand a few feet beside nicolas, who is saying to the linesman, he is not 10 yards away, and it is just ignored, but same linesman got a shy retaken for a few steps, only we get pulled up for this.

  21. Huddle,

     

    I think the Palace one was definitely a foul.Again its down to someone’s decision.I thought the Hun one was very soft,but same applies.Normally,the keeper gets the benefit,rightly or wrongly.

  22. ADVERTISEMENT
  23. Turkeybhoy on 30th December 2024 7:38 pm

     

    What’s worse to me on the field than keepers being over protected,is the defender in trouble,feels the breath of the forward behind him,and collapses.FOUL !!!!!!.Does my head in.Every game,it happens.

     

     

    to be fair, if its daizens breath, then you are bundled over at 35 mph by the wee samuria going through you. he is maybe the best in the world at it.

  24. loooking to the weather forecast,

     

     

    ibrox on thursday afternoon is likely to have perfect conditions for a football team to play football.

  25. If KT returns to play as a leftback charging up and down the wing – he’ll be out injured for 70% of the time he is back for.

     

     

    Brendan puts too much pressure on players with the tippy tappy borefest.

     

     

    A savvy manager would make the ball do the work rather than run vastly expensive players into the ground.

     

     

    My fear is that the Huns sacked Phileepi a fortnight ago but haven’t told him yet, or the memo got caught in the filters, or some other dodgy bs, and then the Huns wheel oot wee nasty Naisy as their new manager.

     

     

    Wee Naisy brought his pitiful Hearts team to Parkhead last year, [ parked the bus ] and Brendan and his team were loudly BOOOOOED at half time as we were losing 0-2, and then again at full time with the score still at 0-2, and Brendan’s team couldn’t muster a shot at goals – Against Hearts FFS!

     

     

    That was the last team to beat us domestically and I fear that if wee nasty Naisy ends up at the Huns and we’ll soon see a team like Sir Walter & Sir Coisty’s diving all over the pitch, jumping into opposition players and getting penalties, players sent off, etc, etc.

     

     

    And we’ll have a manager who dizny call out issues but instead waits until we are defeated or drop points, and his managerial gloss gets smeared and he is incapable of saying the immortal words –

     

     

    “This is on me! I got it wrong and its on me to put it right, so I apologise to our amazing fans.”

     

     

    If you can’t get over yourself and see faults, then maybe a backwater league like the SPL could trip you up and let everybody see if they have eyes without green tints, what the manager is really made of.

     

     

    In a One Horse League a well resourced manager will be able to get away without being seriously challenged, but as the Wolfetones sometimes sing…

     

     

    🎶Sure as Mother nature every doggy has its day, Toora-loora-loora-loora-loo.🎶

     

     

    If the Managers Kryptonite is a parked bus – might be time to be wiser than the serpents.

  26. ADVERTISEMENT
  27. BelmontBrian on 30th December 2024 8:08 pm

     

    Evening all.

     

     

    O J, that’s the spirit.

     

    ……………………………..

     

     

    👍

  28. Odious joe

     

     

    What self harm did the symbol of union do to make it a one horse race?

     

     

    Celtic winning is your kryptonite.

     

     

    Then again you are stuck in a fantasy bubble.

     

     

    Could always get you along to a game,it was the noughties since you last went to Celtic Park,would get you off you-tube and all that racist shoit you post,be good to get you out of blant’r

  29. ADVERTISEMENT
  30. From Jobo

     

     

    *SENTINEL CELTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2024-25*

     

    *RESULTS FROM GAME #28 CELTIC 4 ST JOHNSTONE 0 (KUHN, KYOGO(2), MEADA)*

     

     

    Good evening, friends.

     

    Another emphatic victory brought the curtain down on a quite incredible 2024 as St Johnstone were, quite literally blown away.

     

    From the first whistle there seemed to be an urgency about our team that has perhaps been missing in previous games. And no one did more than Arne Engels who, in the first half hour seemed to be absolutely everywhere, linking up play, recovery tackles, creating chances and almost finishing a couple. But it was his fellow midfielder Reo Hatate who created the breakthrough on the half hour mark with a fine pass into the space ahead of Kuhn. Our German here made no mistake, cutting inside and placing a firm shot into the corner of the net.

     

    5 minutes later and Nicolas almost had his second with one of his trademark curling efforts towards the top corner. Rae in the St Johnstone goal did well to fingertip it over the bar.

     

    Early in the second half we thought Celtic had doubled their lead when Johnston fired in a low cross that a St Johnstone defender turned into his own net. But Kyogo was found to have been offside earlier in the build up and the goal was correctly disallowed.

     

    But on 59 minutes we did get our second goal. Bernardo laid a side pass to Hatate and then charged into the busy box to get on the end of Hatate’s beautiful chip. Goal of the season was denied by the keeper but his parry was met by the head of Kyogo and it was 2 nil. 5 minutes later and Kyogo had his second goal. This time a peach of a right foot curling delivery with pace from Engels and Kyogo met it cleanly on the 6 yard line to give the keeper no chance.

     

    The final goal of the afternoon was scored by Daizen Maeda. Again, a brilliant defence splitting pass from Bernardo into Daizen’s path and a left foot finish across the goalkeeper and our scoring for the day was completed.

     

    What was very noticeable yesterday was that all 3 of our starting midfielders made creative passes that led to our 4 goals. Hatate for the first 2, Engels for the 3rd and Bernardo for our 4th. Long may that continue.

     

    14 points clear with 20 games to go. And hopefully about to be 17 ahead with 19 remaining. As Archie was fond of saying, wooooft!!

     

    We have now played 28 games this season, winning 21, drawing 6 and losing just the 1. We have scored 79 and conceded 20 (domestically it’s 69-10 and in Europe it’s 10-10).

     

    Thanks as always to the 70 who voted this time around. The total votes cast for each player are as follows, with my own nominations asterisked.

     

     

    Schmeichel: 0

     

    Johnston: 6

     

    Carter-Vickers: 4

     

    Scales*: 6

     

    Valle: 15

     

    Bernardo: 38

     

    Engels*: 60

     

    Hatate: 12

     

    Kuhn*: 47

     

    Kyogo: 17

     

    Yang: 3

     

    Idah: 0

     

    McGregor: 0

     

    Maeda: 2

     

    McCowan: 0

     

    Ralston: 0

     

     

    And so, the players receiving POINTS for the game against St Johnstone are –

     

    Engels – 5 Points (that’s 2 MOTMs in a row)

     

    Kuhn – 4 points

     

    Bernardo – 3 points

     

    Kyogo – 2 points

     

    Valle – 1 point

     

     

    And the overall positions after 28 games played are –

     

    47 points – Kuhn

     

    41 points – Bernardo, Scales

     

    36 points – Hatate

     

    34 points – Maeda

     

    33 points – McGregor

     

    32 points – Schmeichel

     

    28 points – Engels

     

    22 points – Trusty

     

    21 points – Johnston A

     

    17 points – Carter-Vickers

     

    16 points – McCowan

     

    15 points – Valle

     

    13 points – Kyogo

     

    11 points – Taylor

     

    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

     

     

    *PLAYER OF THE MONTH FOR DECEMBER*

     

    The monthly award is based simply on the total votes received over that particular month. During December we had 7 games. There were 5 in the league (home to Hibs, Motherwell and St Johnstone and away to Aberdeen and Dundee Utd), an away European tie (Dinamo Zagreb) and a neutral venue for our League Cup success (Triggers Broom FC).

     

    Third place with 139 votes is Cameron Carter-Vickers whilst the runner up on 154 was Paulo Bernardo. But the winner this month 198 votes is Kasper Schmeichel.

     

    Monthly winners –

     

    August – Calum McGregor 184

     

    September – Paulo Bernardo 173

     

    October – Liam Scales 168

     

    November – Nicola Kuhn 298

     

    December – Kaspar Schmeichel 198

     

     

    Our next game is Tuesday’s Glasgow Derby. We travel to Ibrox for the 3.00pm kick off in a pretty good place!

     

     

    Hail Hail!

  31. EmeraldBee \o/ A Double Niner!! on 30th December 2024 9:12 pm

     

    Brian was taking the piss, but then ……..?

     

    =============================================

     

     

    O J = knob

     

     

    HH

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4