ANGE POSTECOGLOU has witnessed his rampant Celtic team thump in TWENTY-ONE goals in five Premiership successes this season.
The Hoops have hit the ground running in defence of their title and have seen off the challenges of Aberdeen (2-0), Ross County (3-1), Kilmarnock (5-0), Hearts (2-0) and Dundee United (9-0) as they consolidated their position at the pinnacle.
Kyogo Furuhashi, last season’s top marksman with 20 strikes, leads the way with six goals while Liel Abada has notched four with Filipe Jota on three. Giorgos Giakoumakis is on two alongside Carl Starfelt and on-loan Moritz Jenz.
HAT-TRICK HITMAN…Liel Abada and Kyogo Furuhashi celebrate in the 9-0 win over Dundee United.
Stephen Welsh and Josip Juranovic have each claimed one during the goal deluge.
Remarkably, that list of hitmen does NOT include a solitary midfielder.
It’s a puzzler for Postecoglou with his men in the middle firing blanks since day one.
Skipper Callum McGregor and his engine room team-mates Matt O’Riley, David Turnbull, Reo Hatate and Aaron Mooy have yet to make a contribution to the goals for column.
It is certainly not for the lack of trying. In a quickfire moment at Tannadice, Hatate had THREE shots blocked in a matter of seconds. He had two right-foot shots charged down by defenders and then saw keeper Carljohan Eriksson push away his third netbound attempt.
The keeper also made a smart save from O’Riley shortly after Kyogo had opened the scoring, Turnbull had a header that spun off the line before it could have have made it 10-0.
The one-sided affair ended with McGregor flashing a low drive just past the left-hand upright.
THAT’S MY BHOY…Matt O’Riley congratulates Liel Abada on one of his three goals at Tannadice.
One player who is not panicking about the lack of goals from midfield is Danish Under-21 international O’Riley who hit three in his debut campaign after his £1.5million arrival from MK Dons in January.
As the Hoops prepare for tonight’s Premier Sports League Cup-tie against Ross County in Dingwall, the stylish playmaker will go about his business as usual.
O’Riley, as CQN reported almost a fortnight ago, said: “It’s important that we have a spread of goals from all over the team. That’s the case especially with the way teams play against us in Scotland.
“They really try to stop us from playing our game and we need to find a way past that.”
He added: “Sometimes, we need to wear teams down and then look for the openings after 60-70 minutes. Spaces can open up even more at that point and I think late goals could be quite common this season with the way teams are being set up.
“Being patient is important, we need to find the space when we can and then it’s a case of being clinical when we get the chances.”
County keeper Ross Laidlaw could be in for a spot of overtime at the Global Energy Stadium.
* DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from Ross County v Celtic this evening – only in your champion CQN.
