Celtic manager Neil Lennon has hailed his squad and was clearly wowed by the club’s goal difference stat.
The Hoops managed to overcome St Mirren with a convincing 5-0 romp at Parkhead yesterday. A hat-trick from Leigh Griffiths alongside goals from Odsonne Edouard and Callum McGregor did the job for Lennon’s side.
The five goals meant that Celtic took their goal difference tally up to +70. It comes after Lennon’s side have managed to score 34 goals in 10 league games since the winter break. It’s also a figure that’s seen Celtic storm 26 goals clear of Rangers heading into our rivals’ match at Ross County this afternoon.
And speaking after the game, Hoops boss Lennon said in the Scottish Sun that he was extremely happy with their goal return.
“That’s a goal difference of plus 70? Wow. I’m delighted with that. Looking at it when I came in, I thought we could maybe up the tempo and play forward a little bit more.
“We certainly had the players who could score goals. That’s something that me and the backroom team were working on at the start of the year, but the players have to go out and do it, and they have done it magnificently well so far.
“We could have had more, we played well, there was a good work ethic about us, on and off the ball, and I couldn’t ask any more of the players today.”
70-mark isn’t an easy number to achieve
History will tell you that reaching the +70 goal difference tally isn’t easy. Since 2014, only the Invincibles have managed to finish with a higher total.
Brendan Rodgers’ class of 2017 ended the campaign with a figure of +81. However, Celtic have more than enough time to match that number this season. There are still eight more games left to play in the Premiership this term. You would fancy Celtic being able to match that or to soar above it.
Before 2017, you have to go back to Lennon’s final year in charge when we managed +77 in 2014. If Celtic only won 1-0 in their matches between now and the end of the season we would still manage to overtake that number.
So it shows just how swashbuckling this side has been at times this season. Results such as the 5-0 win against St Mirren yesterday haven’t been rare. We hammered St Johnstone 7-0 on the opening day of the season, and recently dismantled Hearts with a 5-0 success at Parkhead too.
It’s this kind of goalscoring form that fires the pressure over to Rangers this afternoon. Steven Gerrard’s side sit 16 points behind the champions having played two games less. With their form, you wouldn’t fancy them making easy work of Ross County.
But what our margin of victories has done since the winter is make goal difference an extra point for us. Effectively, Celtic sit 17 points clear with the goal-difference number. However, it’s pretty clear even at this early stage that it isn’t going to come down to that.
What have you made of Celtic’s goal difference record this season? How important have our margins of victory been? Give us your verdict in the comments below.
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