It was a successful weekend for Celtic as the Bhoys stretched their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to seven points.
On Saturday, it was another late show for Ange Postecoglou’s side, who picked up all three points in a dramatic 4-2 victory.
And the following day, St Johnstone had their part to play in extending Celtic’s lead at the top, defeating Glasgow rivals Rangers 2-1.
Of course, after the Ibrox side fell to defeat, the majority of the talk has been surrounding that result and Rangers poor start to the season, which has put boss Giovanni Van Bronckhorst under considerable pressure.
However, not enough talk is going into just how good Celtic have been on the domestic front due to the incredible 12-month turnaround produced by Ange Postecoglou.
With the Hoops currently holding a strong lead at the top of the league, some Scottish Football supporters may try and suggest that is due to the start that Rangers have made.
And although that may have a slight impact on the Bhoys’ lead, the majority of the credit deserves to go the way of Ange Postecoglou and his players, who have made an incredible start to the Scottish Premiership campaign.
All Celtic supporters are aware of the brilliant rebuilding job the Celtic boss has produced, taking the club from losing the title by a 25-point deficit to double winners.
But when you take a closer look at the stats and the points difference from this time last year, it just shows how much progression has been made at Parkhead.
The impressive progress made at Celtic is the main contributing factor to Scottish Premiership lead.
On this day in 2021, the Hoops were coming off the back of another 4-2 victory against a team from Dundee, this time at Dens Park [BBC Sport].
Celtic’s season was slowly starting to click into gear at this point, and the title charge was on as we sat four points behind our Glasgow rivals on 26 points.
Fast forward 12 months, and in the same amount of games (13), we have bettered that tally by ten points and currently hold the advantage over Rangers at the top.
Not only have we improved our points tally, but we are also 16 goals better off, having already scored 46 goals in our games so far this campaign.
Ange Postecoglou’s side have suffered a setback already this season in their 2-0 loss away from home against St Mirren.
However, they have since bounced back and are yet to lose or even draw a game in the league since. In comparison to last year’s tally, we had already dropped 13 points after two draws and three losses.
So, it just goes to show how consistent the Celtic squad have been this season, and they deserve huge credit for taking their extended lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
In this country, the talk is always bound to be surrounding which of the two sides is struggling, and the conclusion large sections come to is that being at the top is due to the downfall of the other.
However, that simply isn’t the case this season.
Postecoglou and his players are fully deserving of their position and points advantage; they have done the hard work and earned that.
From comfortable victories to late comebacks such as Saturday, it has been a joy to watch this squad in action so far this campaign, and we have witnessed an incredible turnaround in just a year.
Long may that continue in the final two games before the World Cup as we look to pile the pressure on our rivals and extend our lead.
No matter the result of those final two games, we will take our place at the top during the international tournament. And that is no more than we deserve, thanks to our fantastic start to the 2022/23 season.
In other news, Celtic loanee looks set for return after European season comes to an end.
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