| Match Pictures | Matches: 2017 – 2018 | 2017-18 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic made history under BR once again by breaking the British (and Willie Maley’s) record for consecutive domestic matches without defeat.
- 63 games unbeaten record; broken 100 year old UK record, previously also held by Celtic.
- Celtic on top of the league, quite comfortable.
- Kieran Tierney’s stellar progress at Celtic has seen him rewarded with his second long-term contract extension at the club in less than 18 months.The highly-regarded left-back has signed a new six-year deal which will run until the summer of 2023. It was only in June 2016 that Tierney penned a five-year contract which was scheduled to expire in 2021.
- Brendan Rodgers has reiterated his desire for Dedryck Boyata to extend his stay at Celtic
- Ex-Hearts Player Stefano Salvatori, the Italian midfielder, who died on Tuesday aged 49 following a lengthy battle with cancer. RIP
- Manchester United are reportedly leading the chase to sign Celtic striker Moussa Dembele, after a rumoured total of 17 scouts took in Celtic’s clash with Bayern Munich this week.
- Online Celtic forum pioneer Scott McMenemy has died. He was better known as MinceCFC/@celticminded.com from the old ComeOnTheHoops, Celticminded.com and Twitter sites. RIP
- Former Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has branded Celtic fans ‘obsessed’ as he told them on Twitter: “Leave me alone.” “Just going on record to say Celtic fans are obsessed with me on here. Leave me alone. I don’t care about you or your club. Go away.”
- John Hartson: Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, the Welshman said: “Rangers need a strong Rangers for Rangers, not for Scottish football. Celtic haven’t looked back in the last six years in my opinion. “It’s Rangers people that have brought this club down, they cheated if you like, their over-payments, EBTs… they need to run the books properly and not pull every stroke in the book.”
- Former Rangers defender Fernando Ricksen has vowed to keep fighting MND despite his health deteriorating over the last 12 months. We wish him the best.
Review
BR: “My motto has always been about to win the next game. Football is a very difficult thing to forecast"
(TheManHimself of KDS)
Fantastic achievement by the team, manager & club.
We barely got out of 1st gear, yet could easily have scored 5 in the 1st half alone.
St Johnstone were a shadow of the team who've regularly forced us to up our game recently.
Rodgers' system of playing out from the back, regardless of opposition pressure, depends on players creating options for the man on the ball – i.e., working their socks off for each other – and we're now deceptively comfortable doing so at this level.
Teams
St Johnstone
- 12Clark
- 14Comrie
- 5Shaughnessy
- 6Anderson
- 3Tanser
- 19FosterSubstituted forMcCleanat 76'minutes
- 18PatonBooked at 55mins
- 4Alston
- 21ScougallSubstituted forO'Halloranat 58'minutes
- 10WotherspoonBooked at 65minsSubstituted forCraigat 68'minutes
- 9MacLean
Substitutes
- 1Mannus
- 11O'Halloran
- 17Johnstone
- 20McClean
- 23Gordon
- 26Craig
- 29Cummins
Celtic
- 01 Gordon
- 23 Lustig
- 06 Bitton
- 20 Boyata
- 63 Tierney
- 08 Brown
- 14 Armstrong Substituted for Ntcham at 76'minutes
- 49 Forrest Substituted for Hayes at 77'minutes
- 42 McGregor Substituted for Rogic at 60'minutes
- 11 Sinclair
- 10 Dembele
Substitutes
- 12Gamboa
- 15Hayes
- 18Rogic
- 21Ntcham
- 22Edouard
- 24de Vries
- 35Ajer
Goals
- Sinclair (28' minutes),
- Dembele (72' minutes),
- Anderson (75' minutes og),
- Ntcham (89' minutes)
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Forum
MOTM
- Voting Thread
- Result Thread
- Winner –
Stats
St Johnstone
Celtic
Possession
Home29%
Away71%
Shots
Home6
Away27
Shots on Target
Home2
Away15
Corners
Home4
Away3
Fouls
Home11
Away8
Articles
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/st-johnstone-0-4-celtic-hoops-break-100-year-old-record-1-4604850
David Gunn Email Published: 14:25 Saturday 04 November 2017
Read more at: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/st-johnstone-0-4-celtic-hoops-break-100-year-old-record-1-4604850
Celtic broke their own 100-year-old British record by stretching their unbeaten domestic run to 63 matches with a 4-0 victory over St Johnstone.
• READ MORE: It is night and day under Brendan Rodgers, says Scott Brown
Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele and Olivier Ntcham were on target and Steven Anderson netted an own goal as Celtic strolled to three Ladbrokes Premiership points at McDiarmid Park.
Saints were the last Scottish team to beat Celtic, on May 11, 2016, in Ronny Deila’s penultimate match in charge. But the Perth side had not scored in five matches before the visit of Brendan Rodgers’ men, who are a different proposition from the team managed by the Norwegian.
The victory was as one-sided a game as Celtic have enjoyed during an 18-month spell of invincibility in Scottish football.
St Johnstone were not helped by the absence of Brian Easton, Murray Davidson and Chris Millar through injury and Michael O’Halloran was only fit enough for the bench, coming on for pre-match doubt Stefan Scougall just before the hour mark.
Celtic named the same team that ran Bayern Munich close in a 2-1 Champions League defeat on Tuesday and there was little sign of fatigue.
James Forrest, Dembele, Callum McGregor and Sinclair saw shots held by Zander Clark as Celtic pushed their hosts back and Sinclair almost got in following a one-two with Dembele.
The breakthrough looked inevitable and it came from a 28th-minute corner. Stuart Armstrong delivered a low ball into the heart of the penalty box and Sinclair read his intentions before firing a first-time strike into the roof of the net from 12 yards out.
Armstrong and McGregor came close with curling efforts and Saints’ only first-half shot on target came from 35 yards out, Craig Gordon grasping Blair Alston’s free-kick after initially looking troubled by the bounce.
There was no let-up after the break. Clark spilled shots from Kieran Tierney and McGregor but managed to gather, Forrest threatened twice and substitute Tom Rogic had a shot saved before Dedryck Boyata’s header was cleared off the line by Aaron Comrie.
It was almost too easy for Celtic and they showed a bit of slackness to allow Richard Foster and Steven McLean decent openings, but they failed to make the most of them.
Celtic appeared to be stung into shifting gears and they did so quickly and effectively with two goals in three minutes.
Dembele put Saints on the back foot with a lovely flick to set Tierney racing down the left and the Frenchman was on hand to stab home after the overlapping Armstrong drove the ball across the six-yard box.
The striker then skipped past Comrie and aimed a cutback for Sinclair before seeing the ball hit off Anderson and trundle over the line as Celtic went three up with 15 minutes left.
And substitute Ntcham drove home from 20 yards in the 89th minute after a brilliant passing move to seal a record-breaking result.
BBC
By Chris McLaughlin
BBC Scotland at McDiarmid Park
1 hour ago From the section Football
Celtic's Scott Sinclair and Kieran Tierney celebrate
Scott Sinclair opened the scoring and Kieran Tierney's jersey marked the record
Celtic broke their own 100-year-old British record of 62 domestic games without defeat with a convincing win over dogged but toothless St Johnstone.
Brendan Rodgers' side dominated possession before Scott Sinclair side-footed home Stuart Armstrong's low corner just before the half hour.
It was one-way traffic thereafter in Perth and Moussa Dembele fired in from close range with 18 minutes remaining.
Steven Anderson's own goal and Olivier Ntcham's strike completed a famous day.
St Johnstone, who started the day sixth in the table, were the last Scottish team to defeat the Premiership leaders and drew 1-1 in their most recent meeting.
But Tommy Wright's injury-hit side went into this encounter without a goal in a run of five games without a win and against a team who had only conceded six times in their opening 11 league matches this season – their best start to a season since 2003-04.
The Perth side had been unable to muster a win in five meetings with Celtic since that 2016 win at McDiarmid Park, losing four in a row until that August draw in Glasgow, and never looked like denying Rodgers' side another significant milestone.
You get the feeling the weight of history sits fairly comfortably on the shoulders of the Celtic players.
Celtic celebrate their new record
Celtic broke the record established by Willy Maley's 1917 side
After becoming treble-winning invincibles last year, the domestic unbeaten run record was simply another step in their quest to steamroller mercilessly over the rest of Scottish football.
Rodgers was taking no chances though and named the same 11 who had impressed in the midweek Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich.
In stark contrast, they were facing a St Johnstone side who had failed to find the net since the end of September – it was a fixture that screamed away win.
Celtic took control as expected, but despite early waves of attack in the Perthshire sunshine, the home side stood firm.
Dembele and Sinclair linked up well inside the box and looked dangerous, but Celtic were giving the Saints the odd sniff in the form of some central-defensive mix-ups.
Celtic's patience this year has been every bit as deadly as their high press. They push and probe and bide their time, knowing the chances will come.
Armstrong fired in a low corner from the right-hand side and Sinclair was deadly from five yards out, sweeping the ball past goalkeeper Zander Clark to secure the lead.
It was the cue for the travelling support to start their party and, as the fans increased the noise levels, the Celtic players responded and upped the tempo.
Celtic's Olivier Ntcham scored the fourth goal
Olivier Ntcham scored Celtic's fourth goal in Perth
In the late autumn sunshine, St Johnstone were left chasing shadows.
So it continued into the second half and Aaron Comrie was forced to header off the line and on to the bar from a Dedryck Boyata header.
In the rare St Johnstone forays forward, they lacked belief and conviction and a Celtic back line, which at times looked a little shaky, was rarely threatened.
The new record was in the bag midway through the second half when the green and white machine once again breached the wall of blue.
Armstrong powered down the left-hand side and his cross was delicately clipped in from close range by Dembele.
The celebrations were barely over when Anderson turned the ball into his own net to compound the home side's misery.
It was exhibition stuff for the league leaders after that as they toyed with and tormented St Johnstone with slick one-touch football that was a joy to watch.
When substitute Ntcham drilled in number four at the end of another fabulous passage of play, a century-old record was smashed.
At the end, they took their bow in front of the thousands who had come to watch history. Sixty three and counting.