Celtic eased to another victory on the domestic scene to end 2024 with a bang.
It has been another incredible calendar year for Brendan Rodgers and his players, as it’s fair to say that another Premiership title is around the corner.
On Sunday, Celtic put four goals past St Johnstone after doing the same during their win over Motherwell on Boxing Day.
Once again, amid the busy schedule, more changes were made to the XI, including Callum McGregor rested ahead of the Rangers trip on Thursday.
But it made no difference as Nicolas Kuhn, a Kyogo Furuhashi brace and Daizen Maeda guided Celtic to three points and another clean sheet for summer signing, Kasper Schmeichel.
That’s a 14-point lead for the champions at the top of the table after Rangers dropped points again, this time against Motherwell.
Pat Bonner loved Kasper Schmeichel ‘showing off’ as Celtic beat St Johnstone
Joe Hart left a big hole when he retired in the summer, but it’s fair to say a man of perhaps better quality has replaced him in between the sticks.
One of the areas where Schmeichel is considered better than Hart is with the ball at his feet and that was on display against bottom-of-the-table St Johnstone.
Pat Bonner was purring as the Denmark international played a volleyed pass to Nicolas Kuhn and he described it as the shot-stopper ‘showing off’, as he told BBC Radio Scotland.
“Out comes Kasper Schmeichel to grasp that and then play a wonderfully executed forward to Nicolas Kuhn,” explained the BBC Radio Scotland commentator. “He dropped it and volleyed it with the outside of his boot.”
Bonner responded: “He is showing off. Showing off. It’s a brilliant ball. He could have thrown it as much as he volleyed it.
“But it was almost like a, what would I call it, a little chip with a nice eight iron just low into the green. That’s the kind of ball it was. It was a beautiful, beautiful ball. I am only kidding, he is showing off. He’s got that quality in him. That’s the beauty of Kasper Schmeichel.”
Kasper Schmeichel’s stats for Celtic this season
The great thing with Kasper is that, against teams when Celtic are on top and dominating, he showcases his quality with the ball at his feet.
Then there are matches, like the win against Hibernian this month, where he was asked a lot of big questions and he answered them all by keeping out some clear-cut chances.
All in all, Celtic’s new number one has only conceded four goals in the Premiership this season, and the way he is going, he might not even concede ten by the time the season is up.
| Competition | Apps | Goals conceded | Clean sheets | Minutes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Premiership | 18 | 4 | 14 | 1.620′ |
 | UEFA Champions League | 6 | 10 | 2 | 540′ |
 | League Cup | 4 | 6 | 1 | 390′ |
| Total 24/25: | 28 | 20 | 17 | 2,550 | |
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