DMAA

I was delighted that finally somebody in the media asked the question. Players being ruled out due to covid is one thing. Players being perpetually unfit, however, doesn’t really merit being mentioned in a post match discussion.

I haven’t had time to look into Standard Liege the way I did with Willem II so I can guess how it will go but it won’t be a very educated guess this time. They don’t seem to score or concede many, but they compete well against very good sides. I think it will be tight and a draw will be a very good result here. A win would be outstanding.

Jordan Campbell had a good piece on him in the Athletic. He says it’s a mistake to wait for a “big moment” from him and that his rise has been gradual, he pointed out that the management clearly trust him because he has been given a lot of big games. You are right Frankie that he is a bit like Kent, he is a winger to trade. He will never be my favourite player but he has a role to play and it would be great to see the management improve him as a player.

Certainly looks like it

We have it all to prove.

Fantastic to get public comments like that from the gaffer. He looks a different player when his confidence is this high, long may it last.

You said you were worried by the OP. Why be worried that they have a really bad run of away games and we don’t? I like to look ahead and see the run of fixtures we have coming up. I’m not too scarred to do that. And the set of fixtures we have compared to them presents us with an opportunity and will be a real test for them. That is all I’ve said in the OP. I’ve never been one to overreact at bad results and go over the top when we are doing well.

A couple self isolating it seems too, "As a precaution, Damjan Pavlovic and Abdoul Fessal Tapsoba, both tested negative, who cohabit and spent the evening yesterday with Moussa Sissako, are also excluded from the group pending the results of a new test." Looked them up, both fringe youth players. Raskin is a big one though. Balikwisha looks like a significant miss for them too but as Frankie says it seems he is injured anyway.

I looked these guys up. Raskin is a huge miss for them, the others are irrelevant, they don't play. But Raskin plays every game is an assist king. They seem to get most of their assists from full back (2 each), and in midfield Raskin has 4 assists and only one other player in the whole midfield has an assist.

There is no reason to be worried. They have tough fixtures coming up and it’s come at a bad time. We have the opposite, except Killie, all I’ve said is that it’s an opportunity because it is, we have to use it to put real pressure on them if they do slip up. Not to mention to take advantage of getting a second game in hand.

Really big test that one.

We both have 10 games in 42 days coming up. They have 3 league games, all away. 1 cup game at Hampden. 5 European games, 3 away. The Scottish Cup draw hasn't been done yet, but if they are drawn away that will be only 2 home games in their next 10 fixtures. We have 4 league games, 3 at home. We have 5 European games, 2 away. If we are drawing at home in the cup, we will have only 7 home games in our next 10 games. After Saturday, the timing of this couldn't be worse for them and couldn't be better for us. This a big test for them and it's an opportunity for us to press home our advantage. Their Fixtures Our Fixtures Thu AC Milan Home Standard L Away Sun Aberdeen Away Livingston Home Thu Lille Away Lech Poznan Home Sun Aberdeen Neutral Kilmarnock Away Thu Sparta Prague Home Benfica Away Sun Motherwell Away Hamilton Home Sat Hibernian Away Aberdeen Home Thu Sparta Prague Away Benfica Home Sun Scottish Cup 2nd Round - Draw not yet done Thu Milan Away Standard L Home

And Aribo and Zungu both to come in ?

If the season can't be finished the only fair way to award the title is to use the supercomputer. Celtic will be lobbying hard to award the title now after Saturday's performance, the supercomputer still has them winning it by a point (due to last season's form). https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/18804976.celtic-tipped-win-premiership-just-one-point-rangers-defeat-supercomputer-predicts-season-2020-21/

Brian Laudrup has his say, “I thought (Glen) Kamara was the best player on the park in the Old Firm game. Just outstanding. He was crucial to the control Rangers had,” Laudrup said. “That control left Celtic looking clueless at points in their attempts to produce an attacking threat. “Kamara’s decision-making sets him apart. It is exceptional when he is at his best. On Saturday, his footballing brain was in top gear to run beside his technical qualities. Kamara’s value will only rise if he impresses for Finland at Euro 2020 next summer.” Really interesting to see him specify his decision-making and his footballing brain. Really encouraging, because add those things to his obvious technical ability and you have some player on your hands.

Standard Liege 1-1 Rangers Hagi

Mo Farah would be jealous of Tavernier’s fitness levels

I think we have played harder games so far too. The only games that really matter are the away ones, and they have had, Kilmarnock, Dundee United, Ross County, St Mirren, St Johnstone. We have had, Aberdeen, Livingston, Hamilton, Hibs, Motherwell Now for me, we have had far harder away games. Hamilton is the only gimme there. Kilmarnock is the only tough one they have had, the others are all strong bottom 6 candidates and don't have the track record Livginston have for taking points off us. Another good sign.

Haha. And here’s the proof on xG for the whole team. This is very significant. It’s not exaggeration, they really have been as poor as we have been hearing.

Wow, look at this one. Open play only. Suddenly Celtic’s main creators disappear! This is crazy. Even Barker is well up there.

Yes, but what I mean is they have scored about the same as us but according to this, their expected goals must be lower than ours. As I understand it, if you are outperforming your expected goals and assists you are probably getting a bit lucky, and it will eventually even itself out. Conversely, our actual goals probably don’t do us justice. Which makes sense given Morelos and others have wasted very good chances. All that to say, it is very good to see that our expected assists and goals are higher than theirs (at least for their main men, it bodes well.

I am actually really surprised how much we are dominating this graph. This really shows the luck Celtic have had in terms of points because their key men are below ours on every metric.

Thanks I hadn’t seen that. That account is brilliant for these stats. Hagi’s stats are quite incredible. And more recently I’ve felt he has been more consistent throughout the game, against Galatasaray he was really good throughout whereas in many league games he actually hasn’t been very impressive but then pops up with an assist.

The rest of the league have far too much respect for Celtic. Surely they will smell blood after that display at the weekend.