Penalty records, Clement on precipice

Newco’s remarkable run of penalty kicks, given and not received, has been covered far better than I have elsewhere, so I will not dig into the main issue today.  What we need to concern ourselves with it that penalty kicks is one of their main sources of wins in domestic football.

This is a jeopardy Celtic will have to prepare for on Sunday.  Any time they have or challenge for possession inside our box is an opportunity to win a spot kick.  They will try.  Maintaining a defensive line outside the box hugely reduces Newco’s threat by a significant margin.

Their win over Hibernian on Saturday prevented a third straight home defeat (Motherwell and Benfica were the previous two).  That steadied the nerves for a side who had not won without the benefit of a two-man advantage or a penalty kick (they received one and missed against Hibs) since February.

Pundits can be heard saying this is the most important derby in a which feels curious to Celtic fans.  We’ll let the Newco/Oldco confusion slip for now.  The other lot are feeling it more than we are because Clement is on a precipice between gaining a valuable advantage late in the season or seeing his reputation go the way it did at Monaco.

Their fans feel this, while they worry about the return of Callum McGregor, who alongside Kyogo, they respect more than any Celtic player in recent times.  The supreme confidence Celtic faced at Ibrox in September has been replaced by a faux bravado.  Five minutes of good Celtic possession and that will switch to pressure on the home side.