Celtic

Celtic somehow took 87 minutes to find a winner in a match they dominated against Aberdeen. Callum McGregor scored the winner to save their blushes late on.

The visitors returned to action after the World Cup break with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Daizen Maeda starting following their exploits in Qatar. Anthony Stewart comfortably cleared off the line from Furuhashi after the striker rounded Roos and tried to squeeze the ball home from a very tight angle, and the goalkeeper gathered a McGregor effort after Ross McCrorie's block had taken the sting out of the powerful strike. James Forrest back-heeled into the path of McGregor after coming inside from the left and the midfielder arrowed a 20-yard drive just inside the far post.

Aberdeen fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to Celtic this afternoon, with the home team employing some dire tactics in order to get a result.

For Celtic, this game represents a promising return to domestic action after the World Cup break. Celtic are comfortably the best side in the division, but Aberdeen are also meant to be one of its better teams. We will burst their bubble in January. Aberdeen with one of the worst footballing performances ever witnessed but I'd suggest Jonny Hayes needs investigating after his part in it. Can’t be bothered with the whole “it’s cruel on Aberdeen” patter. That would stop you coming to see the ‘beautiful game’. Made no attempt whatsoever to win that game. Look at this piece of play and Aberdeen “engagement” or lack of! It’s no way for Aberdeen to play, especially at home. In contrast, the home team had only two efforts to score of their own, with neither hitting the target. However, they also offered very little in the final third. [December 17, 2022]

We give the Celtic players involved in the 1-0 win against Aberdeen a mark out of ten for their performance at Pittodrie.

Jota: Stung the palms of Kelle Roos with a fierce first-half drive but his trickery and dynamism was not present here. It was one of the few moments the Japanese was found free in the box. However, his influence waned as the match went on and came off for David Turnbull on 72 minutes as Celtic tried to find a way through. Constantly set the tempo, cajoled his team-mates and had the accuracy with his strike on 87 minutes to grab the winning goal. Cameron Carter-Vickers: Had to thwart Duk a couple of times as the Aberdeen forward broke with pace but never let him past. Linked up well with Daizen Maeda and then Liel Abada on the right and pierced Aberdeen’s defence with a fine through-ball that fashioned one of their better chances.

Callum McGregor returned from injury to fire Celtic nine points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table as his late strike earned a 1-0 victory over ...

"We don't want to get frustrated against a low block, we stick to the structure. But we did well and have nothing to show for it." "We did well without McGregor but he's a fantastic footballer and we're super happy to get him back in the side. We frustrated them and hit them on the counter for large periods. I thought we were outstanding, committed and created a lot of chances. It was decided on a 25-yard strike at the end. It's easy to sit there and complain but the lads have the energy and the drive to dictate the tempo of the game. "We were disappointed at the end, to have contained Celtic until the 87th minute. It's a difficult place to come to and the goal came later than usual. There was one shot [for Aberdeen] right at the end, but we dominated the game. Kyogo Furuhashi then rounded the Dutch goalkeeper after being played in behind by McGregor, but Anthony Stewart was on the line to cut off his effort from a tight angle. For the second period, Postecoglou brought on Liel Abada for Daizen Maeda at half-time and the forward had an immediate impact.

Giorgos Giakoumakis (Kyogo 72): The Greek striker was thrown on for the last 18 minutes to see if he could fashion a late winner. James Forrest (Jota 72): ...

He forced Roos into a save with his foot not long after and was a livewire, causing the Dons defence a headache when he came on including forced Roos into a late diving save. He was kept quiet in the first half and he missed an absolute sitter on 53 minutes when it was laid on a plate for him by Abada but he screwed wide of the target. Greg Taylor: Arguably Celtic's MVP in the first half of the season, the Scotland international at least tried to link the play with Jota as much as he could in the first half but was more often than not left frustrated as he was thwarted by a stubborn Reds defensive wall despite picking up some great positions. It was much more on point after the restart and he produced the pass of the match to release Abada, who squared it for Kyogo who somehow missed from a few yards out. He was barely seen in the entire second half either as the Reds failed to mount a serious attack. [Celtic](https://www.celticway.co.uk/) goalkeeper was a virtual spectator in the first half but looked totally unconvincing when he raced from his goal and attempted to punch clear on 43 minutes.

The captain made the difference on his first appearance since suffering a knee injury in October.

The visitors returned to action after the World Cup break with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Daizen Maeda starting following their exploits in Qatar. Anthony Stewart comfortably cleared off the line from Furuhashi after the striker rounded Roos and tried to squeeze the ball home from a very tight angle, and the goalkeeper gathered a McGregor effort after Ross McCrorie’s block had taken the sting out of the powerful strike. James Forrest back-heeled into the path of McGregor after coming inside from the left and the midfielder arrowed a 20-yard drive just inside the far post.

Celtic restore their nine-point lead over Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

They want to see us being more attacking than that and obviously we will be in the future. A lot of that is down to the pressure Celtic put you under, as soon as they lose it their reaction is to go and get it back immediately. “That’s who we want to be,” the manager said. “There’s many ways to play a game of football,” he said. “His ability to link up play in the way we want to play and dictate tempo ... “It’s fitting for him to get the goal because he has worked hard to get to this space to be ready again.

Celtic picked up a morale-boosting late win against Aberdeen at Pittodrie today, restoring a nine-point lead at the top of the table.

Celtic were wasteful from distance throughout the 90 minutes but it just needed one man to show a bit of composure and pick their spot in the Aberdeen goal. The script was written for Callum McGregor to play an influential role in today’s win and thankfully that’s how it transpired. However, a ripping Callum McGregor finish late on decided the 1-0 result, to the delight of Celtic fans everywhere.

Callum McGregor returned from injury to fire Celtic nine points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table as his late strike earned a 1-0 victory ...

"We don't want to get frustrated against a low block, we stick to the structure. But we did well and have nothing to show for it." "We did well without McGregor but he's a fantastic footballer and we're super happy to get him back in the side. We frustrated them and hit them on the counter for large periods. I thought we were outstanding, committed and created a lot of chances. It was decided on a 25-yard strike at the end. It's easy to sit there and complain but the lads have the energy and the drive to dictate the tempo of the game. "We were disappointed at the end, to have contained Celtic until the 87th minute. It's a difficult place to come to and the goal came later than usual. There was one shot [for Aberdeen] right at the end, but we dominated the game. Kyogo Furuhashi then rounded the Dutch goalkeeper after being played in behind by McGregor, but Anthony Stewart was on the line to cut off his effort from a tight angle. For the second period, Postecoglou brought on Liel Abada for Daizen Maeda at half-time and the forward had an immediate impact.

BBC Sportsound pundit Michael Stewart has been talking up the importance of Celtic's late goal against Aberdeen.

You could start to see the narrative building of ‘oh they’ve dropped points, Michael Beale’s in the door, all of a sudden the gap’s going to close, there’s a derby coming up.’ All Celtic can do is maintain their own imperious form that has never really wavered regardless of what is happening at Rangers. We’ve yet to see what kind of pattern their results will take.

Teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and several other top teams are rumoured to be keeping ...

Thus, it could be a good fit for Juranovic in that respect as well. Juranovic has been a star performer for Celtic since arriving in the summer of 2021 from Legia Warsaw and he has performed brilliantly at the World Cup for Croatia as well. Teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and several other top teams are rumoured to be keeping an eye on one or more of the Hoops’ players.

Kyogo Furuhashi had a difficult afternoon in today's Celtic match against Aberdeen, but that hasn't dampened his feeling of joy at returning to the pitch ...

But being the type of character he is, he’s jubilant tonight regardless. 🤩 Thanks for the awesome away support 🙆🏼♂️” Kyogo had a number of gilt-edged chances in the Dons box to put the Bhoys ahead before being substituted for Giorgos Giakoumakis in the second half.

Some of the headlines they write after a Celtic win are bafflingly negative. There was no negative headline today as they reported on the game, however, the ...

Unlucky for Allan, he’s part of the side that trails by nine. The writer appears to have Rangers on the brain. We’ve all been there as writers when you spell a name wrong or auto correct gets you, but this one doesn’t really fit into either of those brackets.

After five long weeks Sandman is back and he's hit the ground running showing no sign of rust or over indulging in World Cup refreshments...

OVERALL – 8/10 – 3…2…1…You’re back in the room…Well it’s been a hell of a month of Celtic absence, filled with back-to-back World Cup magic and back-to-back Cheers episodes from beginning to beautifully poignant end to fill the downtime. THE BUILDER – 7.5/10 – Relinquished of responsibility for the midfield security, his was back to being a role of creative. ANITA DOBSON – 8.5/10 – Until the bitter end. We didn’t give them the ball, and the agitated monkeys behind the scenes with their Simon games at the ready didn’t get a sniff of Celt-baiting. So we rock up to the Pen by the sea and it’s business as usual. HAKUNA HATATE – 7/10 – A busy little bee for the majority of his time. Early, he looked lively and potent, but by the time the grind of running at and along a red wall had dimmed his spark, this movie star was heading for a soap. Jamesy’s pumped a few sheep in his time and on he came today, sprinting around like Forest Gump had a line too many, but once more helped with a some strong penetrating play – of course… Gave us fine options on the right and created space for Tony to roam in support. GET CARTER – 6.5/10 – Solid and uncompromising, as ever. But, like a good pastry, he rose to the challenge and his intelligent runs opened up just enough space to make a difference in the end. Kept aware of the speedy danger of a Portuguese duck anticipating a slip, made every interception and back-pass with focus.

Aberdeen have been criticised for their defensive approach in their 1-0 defeat by Celtic having taken no points from three games against the Old Firm.

In Miovski and Duk, they had two of the in-form forwards in the division. Aberdeen, who have much greater resource, are now under pressure to do the same. "Not being as open and expansive as Aberdeen were at Ibrox against Rangers. He can't be as expansive as he was at Ibrox. Next up, is the visit of Rangers. We tried to have a go at Rangers at Ibrox and lost 4-1. St Mirren's strikers had almost double the number of touches that Bojan Miovski and Duk did at Pittodrie. And nobody would disagree they were outplayed. "It's not a way I particularly enjoy setting my team up, but we respected the opposition before the game. Even if Aberdeen had come out of this game with a point, I still don't think it's acceptable. Aberdeen at home against anybody with 19% possession is embarrassing." "We tried to have a go at Celtic on the opening day of the season and lost 2-0.

Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin admits it is hard to argue with the criticism over his cautious tactics against Celtic given the final outcome. Goodwin's sid.

We have come in for a lot of criticism pre-World Cup about the amount of goals we have been conceding. “We will see how the boys recover. We are never going to do that. “It’s not the most fun to watch,” he said. Celtic are a good side, they kept plugging away and Callum McGregor came up with the goods in the end. But we thought that was the best way to go.