| Match Pictures | Matches: 2018 – 2019 | 2018-19 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic now top of the league by 6pts plus +12goals difference
- Incredibly, Celtic have won all of the home matches in the league this season to date.
- This was a catchup game in hand.
- Ajer & Simunovic in centre half roles. Good stuff
- Should have been 3-0, but a dead-cert handball penalty was not given at the end of the game.
- Tough first half, but Celtic strolled in second half.
- Reports that Benkovic could be out for the season following an injury from the Hamilton game from last Saturday. Now believed to be for 4-5 weeks.
- January: 4 games, 4 wins, 12 goals scored and none conceded. Admittedly not been the toughest of challenges, expecting things to ramp up now.
- Transfer windows close tomorrow.
- Scott Brown expected to sign a two year extension to stay at Celtic and not go to Australia or the middle east.
- Ewan Henderson has signed a new three-and-a-half year contract
- Ex-Celt Neil Lennon has left Hibernian in very strange manner. Hibs have confirmed the departure of manager Neil Lennon and assistant Garry Parker in a joint-statement released on the club website.The statement read: “The management team of Neil Lennon and Garry Parker has left the club by mutual consent. They have not been dismissed and have not resigned. The suspension, put in place to allow an internal review, was lifted by the club as part of this agreement. Despite widespread speculation, the club confirms that neither Neil nor Garry has been guilty of any misconduct or wrongdoing and no disciplinary process has been commenced. However, Neil, Garry and the club now consider that it would be in the best interests of all parties to part amicably."
Review
(fatboab of KDS)
Fairly routine win last night, and typically slow start . First half was dull, lit only by the keepers outstandingsave from Sinclairs header, and Ajer meandering into their box to set up Forrest, who should have done much better. Other than that, fairly forgettable 45 mins with St Johnstone setting up with 10 men camped in and around their own box.
Second half started in a worryingly similar pattern until McGregor tried something different, and actually drove at them and hit a great shot into the corner. Keeper was all a bit Craig Gordon though, and must have seen it late. All credit to CM though for at least taking the shot on.
Game changed immediately, as they opened up, and we started picking them apart. Christie managed to stay on his feet for once, and scored a stunning second. The wee guy needs to learn from his booking. He's not going to get away with diving when he's wearing a green and white hooped shirt.
Thereafter, we could have had a couple more as we ripped them open repeatedly. Keeper made a couple of good saves to keep the score down.
A good night all in, if a tad brisk. Kristof Ajer strolled it. Anyone still thinking we're signing two new centre halves in summer need to take a raincheck. We have at least one in place already.
Murray Davidson , if that is actually your real name, you are a ****.
(luca of KDS)
Bain makes a huge difference to our defenders. Jozo and Ajer both looked much more assured – Ajer was excellent going forward and I though Jozo was just as good at covering the spaces at the back, but was much less involved than Ajer across the game.
Brown's best performance this season.
The most exciting thing was our pressing. It was good and caused them issues. However, once Eddie and Weah came on it went up another level, they were really clever in their closing down and pretty relentless – and St Johnstone were lucky to keep it down to 2.
Also, Eddie looks like he's out to prove a point with all the new guys coming in.
Teams
Celtic
- 29Bain
- 23Lustig
- 5Simunovic
- 35Ajer
- 3Izaguirre
- 8Brown
- 42McGregor
- 49Forrest
- 17ChristieBooked at 32mins Substituted forBittonat 81'minutes
- 11Sinclair Substituted forWeahat 74'minutes
- 25Burke Substituted forEdouardat 68'minutes
Substitutes
- 1Gordon
- 6Bitton
- 15Hayes
- 22Edouard
- 30Weah
- 52Henderson
- 73Johnston
Goals
- McGregor (53' minutes),
- Christie (55' minutes)
St Johnstone
- 1Clark
- 19Foster
- 15Kerr
- 5Shaughnessy
- 3Tanser
- 4Alston Substituted forKennedyat 81'minutes
- 8DavidsonBooked at 70mins
- 26Craig
- 10Wotherspoon
- 11Swanson Substituted forCallachanat 65'minutes
- 17O'Halloran Substituted forWattat 65'minutes
Substitutes
- 22Hendry
- 23Gordon
- 28Callachan
- 30Hurst
- 31Keown
- 32Watt
- 33Kennedy
Referee:
Greg Aitken
Attendance:
54,563
Articles
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Pictures
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- Winner –
Stats
Home Team
Celtic
Away Team
St Johnstone
Possession
Home69%
Away31%
Shots
Home21
Away1
Shots on Target
Home9
Away0
Corners
Home9
Away2
Fouls
Home10
Away7
Articles
Brendan Rodgers: Celtic set to seal deal for Dortmund right back Jeremy Toljan
Stephen Halliday
Published: 06:00 Thursday 31 January 2019
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/brendan-rodgers-celtic-set-to-seal-deal-for-dortmund-right-back-jeremy-toljan-1-4865246
Celtic will look to complete a loan deal for Borussia Dortmund right-back Jeremy Toljan in what manager Brendan Rodgers does not expect to be a frantic transfer deadline day for the Scottish champions.
Rodgers hopes to make at least one more signing before the January window closes at midnight with 24-year-old Toljan, who joined Dortmund from Hoffenheim for £6 million in 2017, understood to be his priority target.
“We won’t be overly busy,” said Rodgers after watching his side beat St Johnstone 2-0 at Celtic Park to move six points clear of Rangers and Kilmarnock at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
“We know specifically what we want, so hopefully we can do that. We would hope we could get at least another one in.”
Rodgers confirmed that on-loan Leicester City central defender Filip Benkovic will be sidelined for around six weeks with the ankle injury he suffered last weekend. It had initially been feared Benkovic’s season might be over, forcing Celtic to try and recruit another central defender before the transfer deadline.
But Rodgers praised the performance of Jozo Simunovic, who replaced Benkovic last night as Celtic racked up a fourth consecutive clean sheet, while Jack Hendry will no longer be allowed to leave on loan for the rest of the season.
“It will initially be four to five weeks for Filip,” said Rodgers.
“He will have his ankle in a protective boot. We will assess it after four weeks, then it will take another week to 10 days to get back into training again. He will stay with us.
“It’s disappointing but Jozo Simunovic came in and was excellent tonight. He was concentrated, alert and passed it well. When he’s like that, he’s a very good player. Filip’s injury could change the plan for Jack. We wanted to get him out for games but I need to ensure our squad is covered before anyone else’s. We will assess that on Thursday morning and see where it is at.”
Ukrainian winger Maryan Shved was in attendance at Celtic Park last night and should complete his £1.5m move. The 21-year-old will then be loaned back to Karpaty Lviv for the rest of the season.
Rodgers, meanwhile, is hopeful captain Scott Brown will end speculation about his future by signing a new contract at the club. It’s believed Brown has decided to reject the opportunity to move to Australia and join Western Melbourne.
“I don’t believe anything is finalised yet,” added Rodgers. “But Scott is very happy here and we have given him the time. Scott is back to fitness and it would be brilliant for the club, his team-mates and me if he stays. He has been a brilliant captain and hopefully he will sign.”
Rodgers expressed his satisfaction at Celtic’s performance against St Johnstone as goals from Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie maintained their 100 percent winning record at home in the league this season.
Niall McGinn celebrates during Aberdeen's cup replay win over Stenhousemuir. Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS
“I was delighted with the performance,” said Rodgers. “It’s still very early in the season, there are still a lot of games to go. We’re only just about to go into February. But everyone has looked at this game in hand for a few months and wondered if we were going to win it against a good side. We did that.
“It’s a six-point lead, which is nice, with a good goal difference. It was another clean sheet and we are defending very well.”
BBC
By Kenny Crawford
BBC Sport Scotland at Celtic Park
From the section Scottish Premiership 134
Highlights – Celtic 2-0 St Johnstone
Celtic moved six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership after two goals in two second-half minutes broke St Johnstone's resistance.
Callum McGregor fired low from outside the box eight minutes after the break, then Ryan Christie curled in a second.
Scott Sinclair's header had been well saved by Zander Clark as Brendan Rodgers' side dominated.
St Johnstone offered little in attack as they suffered successive away losses for the first time since September.
Tommy Wright's team, who were beaten at Hearts on Saturday, remain sixth – five points clear of Hibernian.
And the Perth outfit host Rodgers' men on Sunday before returning to Celtic Park in the Scottish Cup on 10 February.
Celtic's Benkovic out until at least March
Reaction & as it happened
Visitors resistance eventually falters
Celtic took the points, but only after a stubborn and robust defensive effort in the first 50 minutes by St Johnstone.
Jason Kerr – who on Tuesday signed a contract extension until 2022 – and Joe Shaughnessy were a composed and diligent central defensive pairing and frustrated the Premiership leaders.
One particular highlight from Kerr was a clever backward header just before half-time to defuse an awkward situation caused by Mikael Lustig's cross.
Clark also deserves credit, because the visiting goalkeeper sprang into action with a wonderful diving save to claw out Sinclair's header on the half hour.
He went on to pull off another great save from McGregor, but Celtic had seized control by then.
Just after the break both McGregor and Christie were teed up by Lustig, who occupies the right-back berth that Celtic are so keen to strengthen.
Manager Rodgers said pre-match that there was nothing to report in the speculated interest in Borussia Dortmund's Jeremy Toljan.
Christie's looping curler into the top left corner was definitely the more pleasing of the two goals.
McGregor strike's was low into the same corner, with Clark perhaps unsighted by a ruck of defenders.
Celtic had the luxury of bringing Odsonne Edouard, Timothy Weah and Nir Bitton on as substitutes, with strikers Edouard and Weah going very close to making it three for the hosts.
Zander Clark made a stunning save from Scott Sinclair but could not deny Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie
Zander Clark made a stunning save from Scott Sinclair but could not deny Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie
Celtic send out 'ominous' warning – analysis
In this extremely competitive season, Celtic have used their game in hand to establish a more commanding advantage – something that seemed unlikely pre-Christmas when the league lead was being exchanged almost on a weekly basis.
Celtic's dominance and eventual attacking prowess is an ominous warning to others in the top-four positions, who have to muster the season-long title-challenging stamina to reel Rodgers' men back in.
If captain Scott Brown does finally commit his future to Celtic in the next few days, it might offer the club that one extra spur to complete the job in the league this season.
St Johnstone were always in for a difficult night and their initially resolute performance was worn down. Wright will look to Sunday's meeting with Celtic on their own McDiarmid Park patch as a better chance to show what they are capable of against the leaders.
Celtic were 'very calm' – reaction
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "The first 20, we didn't play quick enough but then we started to get into better areas. Second half, we were very, very good and scored two wonderful goals.
"We didn't give up so much at the back, we were very calm. We scored two wonderful goals, the keeper makes another couple of saves and we should have a penalty as well."
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright: "I can't fault my players for their effort, their energy that they showed and they're up against a team just full of quality.
"Sometimes you've just got to take your hat off to them and say that you're beaten by the better team."