2016-12-20: Celtic 1-0 Partick Thistle, SP

Trivia

• Celtic 14pts in front with a game in hand, Sevco second place.
• Sevco getting press that they are still in the running for the league!
• Debut for Calvin Miller; Celtic official site gave MOTM to Henderson (who is developing at a decent pace).
• Partick actually gave Celtic a very hard game.
• One more game before Xmas, Friday night game.
• Transfer window to open soon.
• Kris Commons left on loan to Hibs last week.
• Reports:
• Tom Rogic will miss the match against Partick with an ankle knock he picked up against Dundee
• Celtic sent scouts to Portugal over the weekend as they look to do business in the January transfer window.
• Reports that around 5 players to move in total in this transfer window but all speculation.

Review

(Tinsoldier of KDS)
When you look at things overall – 14 points clear and with a game in hand (along with a vastly superior goal difference) it has been an astonishing first half of the season from Celtic. Most of these players were here under Deila. Most if not all look transformed.

Yes tonight was poor, but there was continued squad rotation and still the 3 points were dug out, with another quality strike from Sinclair (who has been an inspired signing). It's these touches of quality that separate sides in matches like tonight's.

Come the end of May next year it won't be this game we will remember in isolation. It will be the astonishing transformation under Brendan Rodgers of a side which looked devoid of any inspiration last year under a lame duck manager.

It's a great time to be a tim.

(Mcstay of KDS)
3 home games in a week and 3 absolutely honking performances. We don't look like scoring and we're giving up golden chances to the other team. One goal leads in the last 10 minutes we start to play about the back and needlessly give possession away. Nearly cost us tonight with Simunovic almost getting picked off so unnecessarily.

Lovely taken goal from Sinclair. He should have scored another though.
Rodgers needs to go right through them and get the finger out.

3 points are 3 points though.

Effin' freezin'

(danbhoy of KDS)
Their keeper kept the score at 1. Roberts and Dembele had two solid shots saved.

That said, if PT had any composure heading in on goal, it could've been a different scoring game – and that's not to detract from Gordon, who done really well to narrow the angles against their attackers.

Jozo blew hot and cold, there were times when he got forward with brilliant intent, but others when he made a right royal arse of things. Hard to be too critical though.

Gordon was solid. Roberts had his best game for a good wee while. I actually thought Dembele was more than decent given his lack of game time.

8 changes, 3 points and 14 clear with a game in hand. GIRF

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• Winner –

Stats

Celtic
Partick Thistle

Possession
Home63%
Away37%

Shots
Home19
Away10

Shots on Target
Home8
Away4

Corners
Home9
Away4

Fouls
Home10
Away11

Articles

Celtic 1 – 0 Partick Thistle: Scott Sinclair finds way to win
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/celtic-1-0-partick-thistle-scott-sinclair-finds-way-to-win-1-4322499
Scott Sinclair scores Celtic's winning goal against Partick Thistle. Picture: SNS.
ANDREW SMITH
A lament of Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald before the last time his team faced Celtic – all of 12 days before their meeting last night – was that the reserves of the Scottish champions could win the title. It seems that since then Brendan Rodgers has set about proving him half right.
With an early Scott Sinclair strike, Celtic moved 14 points ahead of nearest challengers Rangers in the Premiership, fielding a side that contained almost half a team that could not be considered first picks. Indeed, across three games in eight days, the Irishman has selected no fewer than 18 different starters.
Most notable of these in the latest jousting with Thistle was 18-year-old attacker Calvin Miller. Rodgers, pictured, deemed his senior start last night would come at left-back. In doing so, the Celtic manager recalled how he had done likewise with Ryan Bertrand while Chelsea youth manager.
It could seem curious to embark on experimentation normally reserved for meaningless end-of-season affairs when, ostensibly, Celtic are in the midst of a title race until it is considered that their posting of a 16th victory from 17 league games this season has virtually obliterated any opposition.
Yet, the fluency that regularly brought four-goal flailings in the opening months of the campaign has given way to stop-start performances and slender wins.
Full points were claimed by Celtic against a Partick side planted at the foot of the Premiership in no small part because the visitors seemed to find some outlandish ways to avoid capitalising on chances – two of which came in the opening minutes.
Ade Azeez could probably have achieved no more, when on an acute angle to the right of goal, than draw a sharp save from Craig Gordon as an unfamiliar Celtic struggled to find any rhythm seven 
minutes in.
No such mitigation can be offered to Ryan Edwards, though. After he had nicked the ball from Jozo Simunovic, who had clumsily allowed it to become entangled in his legs on the edge of the box, the goal opened up for the Australian but with a tame shot the only part of it he found was precisely where Gordon was positioned.
Early in the second period Liam Lindsay found Gordon with a free header demanding to be dispatched elsewhere, while composure deserted both David Amoo and Ziggy Gordon either side of the interval when they were in one-on-one situations.
The fact that Celtic yielded opportunities that might have cost them their winning league run – which now stands at 12 games – continued a pattern evident in their victories by a single-goal advantage at Celtic Park against Hamilton and Dundee across the past week.
However, Celtic would argue that only their own wastefulness in front of goal has allowed opponents to believe there are chinks in their armour as, following their League Cup triumph last month, they chase down the Scottish post-war record for a domestic unbeaten start to a season set by their European Cup-winning side in season 1966-67.
On the 21-game mark, they require to avoid defeat for five more matches to eclipse the Lisbon Lions’ 26-match sequence.
Rodgers’ side certainly passed up a hatful of chances last 
night.
There appeared an element of them being unable to find their edge for a mundane fixture and only game nine of December – that takes them across the city for a Hogmanay hosting by Rangers – might induce that.
The notable exception to such laxity last night came in the 16th minute when Sinclair exquisitely whipped a shot high into the net on meeting a Liam Henderson free-kick that the midfielder side-footed to him from the right channel after feigning to hoist it into the box.
For the English winger, motivation last night would have come from within, following a month on the sidelines with injury that meant he had a six-week wait before adding goal No 11 to his season’s tally.
Celtic controlled much of the second period as Patrick Roberts and Moussa Dembele each had a couple of opportunities to bag their side a clinching second.
The fact that the Frenchman did not find the net means he has now gone six games without a goal. Yet, even with the 17-goal sensation having gone off the boil, and a few others in his team’s colours struggling to generate the heat they did months ago, Celtic are still finding ways to win. Even if Thistle were the latest opponent to give a good account of themselves against Rodgers’ side, the flip side of that is that Celtic’s opponents simply cannot find any way to avoid defeat.

BBC

By Richard Wilson

BBC Scotland at Celtic Park

9 hours ago From the section Football

Celtic's Liam Henderson and Scott Sinclair celebrate
Scott Sinclair (right) opened the scoring with his 11th goal of the season

Celtic moved 14 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership, with Scott Sinclair's first-half strike enough to secure a 12th straight league win.

Ryan Edwards and Ade Azeez threatened early for a positive Partick side.

But a Celtic team showing eight changes edged in front after 16 minutes when Sinclair's clipped finish exposed a static defence after a free-kick.

Thistle were doughty opponents but have now gone seven league games without a win and remain bottom of the table.

An 18th consecutive win in Glasgow derbies against Thistle took Brendan Rodgers' side further clear of city rivals Rangers at the top of the Premiership – and they have another game in hand to come.

Thistle, who had the chance to jump to eighth place, were unable to use their extra game over their rivals at the other end of the table.
Celtic grind out victory

The defending champions did not produce their best form against dogged opponents, but they found a way to win the game.

That in itself is a useful attribute and Rodgers will have been cheered by Sinclair's goalscoring effort.

Other players given a starting spot were not as persuasive, with Mikael Lustig and Jozo Simunovic not looking entirely solid at centre-back, the latter being robbed by Edwards early on only for the Australian to finish weakly.

Despite being out of sorts at times, Celtic still had opportunities to secure a more convincing win in the second half, but they found Tomas Cerny a difficult obstacle to beat in the Thistle goal.

Moussa Dembele saw an early effort after the break deflected wide, then the Thistle goalkeeper saved well from Patrick Roberts, Sinclair and again from Dembele, whose strong run and powerful finish looked destined to find the corner of the net.

Substitute Stuart Armstrong also had an attempt on goal saved as Celtic sought the second goal that would have eased any nerves inside the stadium.
Celtic's academy graduates
Calvin Miller (centre) made his Celtic debut
Calvin Miller (centre) made his Celtic debut at left-back

The attention was drawn to 18-year-old Calvin Miller making his competitive debut at left-back, and fellow youth development products Callum McGregor and Liam Henderson also both started the match.

The former can be quick-witted on the ball and industrious, while the latter's rangy running and set-piece delivery are threatening.

It was Henderson's clever free-kick – which caught the Thistle defence unaware – that created the decisive goal for Sinclair, who met the cut-back with a clip over Cerny.

Miller's first involvement was to win a tackle and he mostly looked composed on the ball and eager to surge upfield.

He might have scored, too, when a series of one-twos around the edge of the area ended with him cutting into the box, but his effort was smothered by Cerny.

It wasn't a wholly comfortable night for him though, since his direct opponent, David Amoo, was quick and strong enough to occasionally brush the youngster aside.

When that happened again in the second half, Rodgers immediately turned to the experienced Emilio Izaguirre and Miller was soon replaced after a steep learning curve for the teenager.
Thistle prompt and probe

The visitors refused to merely sit deep and look to close down Celtic's passing angles. They pressed and harried much closer to the Celtic goal and the home side never found their usual fluency and rhythm.

With Amoo capable of troubling Miller, and Azeez aggressive enough to discomfort the two Celtic centre-backs, there was promise for the visitors to build on. The best of their play, though, came through the creative figure of Edwards.

The Australian was quick and nimble enough to make a mark on the game despite opposing Celtic captain Scott Brown.

One burst past Brown led to Edwards feeding Azeez and the striker's awkward finish was brushed wide by Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

The visitors' lack of composure in the final third was a feature – Azeez had another low drive pushed wide by Gordon, while Ziggy Gordon's finish lacked conviction after the full-back galloped into the penalty area – but they kept Celtic on their heels at times.

When Chris Erskine mis-hit the ball from a cross, it bounced to Sean Welsh, but he shot tamely straight at Gordon.