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Trivia
- Celtic go four pts behind Hearts (albeit with a game in hand) after Hearts draw 1-1, and Sevco go four behind after they draw with Kilmarnock.
- Brendan Rodgers has hailed Celtic’s 100th victory under him and claimed his side are getting “better and better” this season. Celtic strolled to victory at Dens Park last night with different scorers contributing to a 5-0 win that leaves beleaguered Dundee at the bottom of the table.
- On his 150th appearance for Celtic, Tom Rogic scores a beauty
- Fourth goal from Celtic is probably the team goal of the season. Touch, pass and move all across the pitch and then Eddie with beautiful finish.
- Brendan Rodgers is desperate to keep Ryan Christie at Celtic after the half-time substitute emerged as the holders’ Betfred cup hero at BT Murrayfield on Sunday past.
- Debut for Arzani who comes on at 5-0 to help give him time to settle in and in a non-challenge, he collapses with supsected ACL damage and so possibly 9months out! Sad sorry situation, and we all feel for him. In his few mins on the park he actually was showing his ability and there was great feedback.
POST-NOTE: Arzani confirmed out for season with ACL injury. - Hibs manager (ex-Celt) Neil Lennon has lambasted the “cowards” who struck him with a coin and attacked Hearts goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal during an ill-tempered Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle. Hearts manager Craig Levein also condemned the hooliganism.
– Lennon said he wanted to meet “face-to-face” with the supporter who threw a coin at him during the Edinburgh derby against Hearts. - – Ex-Celtic Gary Caldwell, a former Celtic team-mate of Lennon, believes the Hibs boss “brings a lot of it on himself”. He is lambasted for the nonsense and stupid comments which he has had to backtrack on.
- Sevco release their financial figures during the games today, clearly to hide the figures, which showed a 12mths to Jun 2018 loss of £14m.
Review
The 3rd goal in particular was a perfect Rodgers Celtic goal in my opinion. McGregor excelled (again) as a deep lying playmaker with most of his passes forward being penetrating and smart – there shouldn't be any doubters about him in that role left.
Our defence was absolutely solid (Gordon megging someone the obvious highlight) and the movement in the Dundee half was the best we've seen this year.
I'm really enjoying the flowing attack from our current forward players where everyone seems confident to fluidly move around depending on where the space and opposition are. Forrest was all over the pitch which created so much room for Rogic and lead to some excellent chances. Same from Arzani (brief as it was) and Morgan when they came on. Tierney was on top form rampaging forward and should have had another assist or 2 while Lustig played a game you'd have seen from him 3 years ago.
Long may this continue.
(Moravcik67 on Twitter)
Teams
Dundee
• 1Hamilton
•2Kerr
•15InnissBooked at 33mins Substituted forBoyleat 45'minutes
• 6O'DeaBooked at 54mins
• 5Kusunga
• 7DeaconBooked at 51minsSubstituted forLambertat 69'minutes
• 8Kamara
• 28Spence
• 27CurranBooked at 75mins
• 19Kallman Substituted forMoussaat 45'minutes
• 20Miller
Substitutes
• 9Moussa
• 10Ngwatala
• 11Mendy
• 12Parish
• 14Nabi
• 23Boyle
Celtic
• 01 Gordon
• 23 Lustig
• 32 Benkovic
• 20 Boyata Substituted for Ajer at 70'minutes
• 63 Tierney
• 49 Forrest
• 42 McGregor
• 18 Rogic Booked at 54mins Substituted for Morgan at 57'minutes
• 11 Sinclair
• 17 Christie
• 22 Edouard Substituted for Arzani at 57'minutes
Substitutes
• 4Hendry
• 14Arzani
• 15Hayes
• 16Morgan
• 29Bain
• 35Ajer
- Rogic (20' minutes),
- Sinclair (33' minutes pen),
- Forrest (38' minutes),
- Edouard (45'+2 minutes),
- Christie (48' minutes)
Referee:Alan Muir
Attendance:7,960
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
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- Voting Thread
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- Winner –
Stats
Possession
Home48%
Away52%
Shots
Home2
Away20
Shots on Target
Home0
Away7
Corners
Home0
Away7
Fouls
Home11
Away13
Articles
Dundee 0 – 5 Celtic: All too easy for champions at Dens
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/dundee/dundee-0-5-celtic-all-too-easy-for-champions-at-dens-1-4822760
Alan Pattullo
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/dundee/dundee-0-5-celtic-all-too-easy-for-champions-at-dens-1-4822760
Celtic don’t lose at Dens Park. So has been the way in recent decades anyway. Bottom of the table Dundee don’t win – not this season at least. Last night’s outcome was therefore entirely predictable even if the scale of defeat dismayed even the most pessimistic Dundee fan.
No wonder some bookies were quoting odds of 12-1 on a Dundee win. Tom Rogic continued his fine form of late to open the scoring after 20 minutes. Further goals from Scott Sinclair from the penalty spot, James Forrest and Odsonne Edouard meant a strong Celtic line-up had wrapped up the points by the interval.
New Dundee manager Jim McIntyre’s half-time message will have echoed that heard down the years in Sunday League dressing-rooms: Just try to win the second half. Dundee conceded again three minutes into it. Ryan Christie ran through Dundee’s static defence to slip the ball past Jack Hamilton, who was by now wearing a haunted look. Celtic have now won four successive league games, something they failed to do last season.
It was as if the game was played in fast forward. The winners were established around half an hour in. All six substitutions were made before the 70th minute, by which time most Dundee fans had headed for the exit.
A couple of flares thrown onto the pitch from the visiting supporters’ end created some reason to stick around towards the end of the first-half, with some mild friction between the two sets of fans evident in that part of the ground.
The only other negative for Celtic involved the continued travails of Daniel Arzani. Having taken so long to make his debut, the Manchester City loanee was carried off only 25 minutes after replacing Edouard following a collision with Jesse Curran.
Rogic’s opener was the eighth goal McIntyre has seen flash into the Dundee net since his appointment. Four more followed without reply. His new side have yet to score under him. There comes a time when the new incumbent has to take responsibility for performances that have, if anything, deteriorated under him.
The phrase hope springs eternal is particularly applicable to this fixture as far as the hosts are concerned. Not since 1988, when Tommy Coyne shot past Alan Rough, have Dundee beaten Celtic at Dens Park – now a total of 31 meetings ago. Rarely have they been in such dire straits in the intervening period either: Dundee have now suffered seven straight home league defeats.
The initial signs were alarming for Dundee fans who were surprised by McIntyre’s decision to play a back four, with Genseric Kusunga, only ever seen before at centre-half, deployed at left-back. Former Celtic player Darren O’Dea and Ryan Inniss sought to shore up the middle of the defence. They were always likely to be stretched beyond breaking point and so it proved.
This was a stroll for the champions from the moment Rogic brought to an end a period of sustained pressure by wondering: why not just curl the ball into the far corner of the net from the edge of the box? It looked this casual. Hamilton made an attempt to save but the shot looked in from the moment it left the Australian’s left boot. Rogic barely bothered to celebrate.
It was already threatening to prove a very long night for the hosts. They could certainly have done without conceding a soft penalty, awarded after Mikael Lustig fell to the ground following Innes’ attempted intervention. The Dundee defender had seemed to try to pull out of the challenge but Alan Muir immediately pointed to the spot. Sinclair converted his second penalty in successive matches.
Celtic looked likely to score each time they went forward. A Kieran Tierney cut back saw Forrest slide in to flash a shot past Hamilton six minutes before half-time. The last thing Dundee needed was reason for the half to last longer. Sadly for them this was the case when Benjamin Kallman sustained a head knock in a challenge with Dedryck Boyata as Dundee made a rare foray in their opponents’ box. Muir added two minutes on and Celtic duly scored in this extra window of opportunity, Edouard turning in Forrest’s cross.
Three minutes after the interval Celtic had a fifth, Christie running on to Edouard’s through ball to hand manager Brendan Rodgers another reason to give the player’s contract situation some urgent attention.
- From the section Scottish Premiership
Tom Rogic, Scott Sinclair – from the penalty spot – James Forrest and Odsonne Edouard gave the ruthless visitors a 4-0 half-time lead.
Ryan Christie neatly slotted a fifth early in the second period.
Dundee have now lost all three games since Jim McIntyre became manager with an aggregate score of 12-0.
They have only one win from 11 league outings but are still just a solitary point behind second-bottom St Mirren, who were beaten in Paisley by Motherwell on Wednesday.
Brendan Rodgers, in pursuit of a third straight domestic treble, oversaw his 100th competitive victory as Celtic boss.
Rogic got them going after 20 minutes, when the Australian was afforded a comical amount of space to trot forward and bend a beautiful arcing shot beyond Jack Hamilton from the edge of the box.
At that point, a deluge beckoned. Edouard and Filip Benkovic could have made it two, and Sinclair did from 12 yards after Ryan Inniss connected rashly with Mikael Lustig.
It was the Englishman's second penalty in four days and finished just as ruthlessly as his spot-kick at Murrayfield in the League Cup semi-final against Hearts.
Dundee were ravaged every time they picked up a loose ball or tried to keep possession, hooped jerseys swamping them immediately.
Celtic's third was a beauty. Callum McGregor sent Kieran Tierney scampering up the left, Tierney's one-touch pass put it back across the box, where the onrushing Forrest arrived to hammer it into the net.
Edouard flicked in a fourth with the outside of his boot with virtually the last act of the half, but the interval brought little respite for McIntyre's beleaguered Dundee.
Three minutes into the second period, Christie raced on to Edouard's through ball and caressed a sumptuous left-foot finish beyond Hamilton.
Tierney could have scored a sixth after being teed up by Daniel Arzani, the Australian whose debut was cut short by an injury in the 78th minute. Reports suggest the 19-year-old winger could face nine months on the sidelines with knee ligament damage.
Celtic are revving now – ominously for the rest of the league – with four consecutive Premiership wins and 18 goals in their past four domestic matches.
Dundee still haven't scored under McIntyre. They've taken three beatings since he took charge, 4-0, 3-0 and now 5-0, two of them at Dens. A mountainous task lies ahead.
They seem to be moving up a gear domestically, turning their customary consistency of past seasons into effective, free-scoring performances with their sights on the Premiership summit. Hearts, seen off in the League Cup semi-final, visit Celtic Park next and the timing looks perfect.
There were so many positives for Rodgers. Christie and Sinclair excelled and scored again, as they did at Murrayfield. Rogic delivered in considerable style.
Fringe players are getting game time which is important given Celtic's schedule, balancing domestic football with Europa League demands. The only negative was that injury to Arzani.
For Dundee and McIntyre this was undeniably sore. The new manager knew he faced a tall order but he might have expected more resilience than this. Perhaps he is finding out things about his squad that will be telling come January when the transfer window opens.
'I still believe we can win matches' – reaction
Dundee manager Jim McIntyre: "No positives at all. The second goal isn't a penalty, but none of us claim. That's disappointing. I don't know if that's the mindset of 'poor us' rather than being aggrieved at the decision, which they should be, because it's not a penalty.
"We're shooting ourselves in the foot and it's draining confidence. We've just got to keep encouraging them. But I still believe there's a nucleus of a squad there that can win matches."
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "Our technical level in the game was very high. Good movement, good combination play, and scored some wonderful goals.
"It's about getting back to how we know we can play, and we're starting to see that now. The creativity, the scoring of goals, but also not conceding any. The level of our game is definitely improving."