2017-10-14: Celtic 1-0 Dundee, SP

Trivia

• Back to the league
• Green Brigade show a cracking banner against the Offensive Behaviour Football Act which has been discriminatory and hell against football fans. Unpopular, but on twitter various idiot SNP politicos backing it.
• Tierney: Captaining Celtic at just 20 years old. He is living the dream – at Celtic.
• De Vries the hero as goalkeeper keeping Celtic in the game; Ntcham scores debut goal.
• Jozo Simunovic has been revealed to have a tear in his hamstring – an injury which could rule him out for between six to eight weeks.
• Celtic have been linked with Icelandic defensive midfielder Willum Willumsson, who plays for Breidablik, but could face competition from Legia Warsaw.
• Ex-Celt Paul Hartley has been confirmed as the new manager of Falkirk.
• Kolo Toure has been named as the new assistant manager of the Ivory Coast. heofficially retired last month to take up a coaching role under Brendan Rodgers at Celtic, and has now joined his national side as Marc Wilmots' assistant. Baffling! Taking on too much possibly?
• Arsene Wenger has suggested that Celtic and Rangers should be invited to play in England before Barcelona. The Arsenal boss was responding to claims that the Catalan giants could be invited to play in the English Premier League, if the region votes for independence from Spain.
• Scotland: Defeated Slovakia 1-0 at home; Scotland then drew 2-2 with Slovenia so out in third place, victory would have taken them thru to the qualifiers.
• Manager Gordon Strachan is responsible not having played best players and right formations etc during the campaign. A lot of frustration. He left the role a week later. We wish him the best.
• Ex-Celt Malky MacKay made interim Scotland manager, across the board unpopular choice folloiwng some derogatory remarks he made which was part of the reason he got sacked at Cardiff.
• Ireland: Defeat Wales to make the World Cup playoffs. Managed by ex-Celtic manager Martin O’Neill supported by ex-Celtic player Roy Keane.
• Ex- Rangers manager Dick Advocaat was turned into a laughing stock by Sweden after the Holland boss claimed they couldn't beat Luxembourg 8-0. He insisted the Swedes wouldn't beat the minnows by such a margin. But they did and effectively knocked the Netherlands out of contention for World Cup qualifying. (Lustig scored the fifth).
• Celtic youngster Kristoffer Ajer had his shoulder popped back into place during Norway Under-21s' shock win over Germany.
• Cheating Huns: Archie Knox (Rangers deidco vice manager) says he paid a Hampden ball boy a fiver to slow an Old Firm game down as ten-man Rangers held onto a lead against Celtic. Walter Smith’s ex-Gers No2 persuaded the youngster and his fellow ball boys to help his side – who’d had David Robertson sent off after just six minutes – during the 1992 Scottish Cup semi-final.
• Scott Allan may return to Celtic while he recuperates from groin surgery which will put him out of action until November. Dundee boss Neil McCann is unsure of whether his parent club’s medical team will insist he returns or if he can remain with his loan side.
• USA: mad gunman in Las Vegas goes on a shooting spree, and kills around 60 people and injures hundreds. Senseless act. RIP.
• Spain: Catalonia independene referendum (illegal) causes great upheaval and reprisals.

Review

(Bobby P f KDS)
In 7 days we play Dundee at home in the league, Bayern away in the CL and Hibs at Hampden in a cup semi final. Yesterday was always going to be a makeshift side and internationals and knocks made it even more so. Demanding we play our ‘strongest’ side in every game is pointless. The manager sees these guys in training and he’ll know his team for the bigger games coming up and will choose a side accordingly. Home league games that aren’t against the Huns or Aberdeen and early cup rounds will be the ones that see the most changes although arguably yesterday was pretty much the strongest team available anyway.

(OwenBhoy of KDS)
Should have won by more, yet De Vries ends up saving the 3 points.
Paddy was fantastic every time he had the ball.
Boyata, Ebouie, Ntcham, Gamboa were all excellent.
Probably Tierney's quietest game.
Another win, unbeaten run continues. And with many changes in the team.

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Stats

Celtic
Dundee

Possession
Home55%
Away45%

Shots
Home19
Away11

Shots on Target
Home9
Away4

Corners
Home5
Away4

Fouls
Home10
Away17

Articles

BBC

By Jonathan Sutherland

BBC Scotland at Celtic Park

From the section Football

Olivier Ntcham scores
Olivier Ntcham scored his third goal of the season to give Celtic victory

Celtic stayed top of the Scottish Premiership on goal difference with a narrow win over Dundee.

Scott Sinclair and Callum McGregor tested Dundee goalkeeper Scott Bain in the first half and McGregor also fired wide.

Bain continued to frustrate Celtic by blocking efforts from Patrick Roberts and Leigh Griffiths.

But Olivier Ntcham struck to make the breakthrough and keep Brendan Rodgers' side ahead of Aberdeen.

Dundee should've had penalty – McCann

The hosts fielded several fringe players but there was no change in terms of the general plot line – wave after wave of Celtic attack, right from the start.
Celtic and Dundee players
Dundee kept Celtic at bay for long periods in Glasgow

Sinclair set the tone in the fourth minute, cutting inside and firing a shot on target which Bain turned wide.

Griffiths nodded a header past the post and Ntcham fired over as the Dundee backline braced themselves to withstand the early bombardment.

In the 20th minute a burst of pace took Celtic captain for the day Kieran Tierney into the Dundee box. The left-back fired off a shot which arrowed just past the top corner.

Dundee tried to play out from the back with Bain as sweeper-keeper as Neil McCann used a 3-5-2 system which allowed plenty of Dundee players to get into the Celtic half. Making chances was still an issue, however, with Celtic goalkeeper Dorus de Vries, starting in place of the rested Craig Gordon, a virtual spectator for the first half-hour.

The visitors began to grow into the game as the regularity of Celtic chances subsided, but the away side would take until the 32nd minute before they forced a save from De Vries. In the end it was an easy take for the Dutchman, the shot from A-Jay Leitch-Smith.

Celtic then looked certain to take the lead through McGregor. Roberts cut a ball into the box for the midfielder but he fired his shot straight at Bain.

Cristian Gamboa then sprung forward from right-back and unleashed a shot which flew over the Dundee bar as the half ended 0-0.
Celtic celebrate
The win set Celtic up for their midweek Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich

A fantastic run and shot from Roberts almost brought a roar of approval from the Celtic Park faithful, but the effort was saved.

Just a moment later there was another moment of Roberts magic. This time the English winger played in Griffiths but with the crowd again anticipating a goal there once again was Bain to make a vital stop.

But Bain would finally be beaten. This time it was midfielder Ntcham who found a yard of space 20 yards from goal. The French youngster unleashed a shot which swerved in the air, the movement on the ball deceiving Bain on its way into the net.

Dundee almost equalised through a former Celtic player, Paul McGowan with the shot but De Vries blocked well to maintain the Celtic lead.

De Vries then produced an even better save after the ball broke to Roarie Deacon, who was through on goal. He got his shot on target but De Vries did superbly well to divert it over.

From the corner there was another great chance for Dundee as the ball found the head of debutant Josh Meekings, but he failed to find the target.

Right at the end there was another big chance for Dundee as Faissal El Bakhtaoui's shot was saved by De Vries to keep the score at 1-0, as the champions withstood the late Dundee rally.

Overall it was a match in which Celtic never really found top gear but crucially did enough to garner yet another three points.
Post-match reaction

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "A bit disjointed, I felt. Passing wasn't accurate enough for parts of the game.

"We showed moments of quality. There's no doubting the absolute spirit in the team.

"Very pleased with the result, another clean sheet.

"Performance? I'll demand and expect better but you can't question the mentality of the team and the spirit to get the result."

Dundee manager Neil McCann: "It's not often teams will come to Celtic Park and go away thinking that they should've taken something from the game.

"We worked the ball into areas where we could get into good places in the pitch where we could have a real go at Celtic and we had great chances.

"I thought we were going to get something from the game because we kept going for it.

"Dorus de Vries came up with some remarkable saves.

"Yes, Scott Bain had a couple of saves today. But I think De Vries had better saves today and he's earned his side the three points instead of maybe being only one, which I felt we deserved at least."

Celtic 1 – 0 Dundee: Olivier Ntcham settles tense encounter
Olivier Ntcham opens the scoring at Celtic Park. Picture: PA
ALAN PATTULLO
Published: 17:00 Saturday 14 October 2017
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A team disrupted by seven changes and opposition with a clear game plan helped to make this a trickier assignment than many predicted for the champions.
READ MORE – Celtic fans display banner opposing controversial Football Act
Celtic stretched their unbeaten domestic run to 59 but their auxiliaries found things a lot tougher than the vast majority inside Celtic Park had hoped.
Bayern Munich scouts won’t have learned a lot prior to Wednesday’s Champions League clash. Indeed, they might have taken a note of one or two of the visitors’ names.
Dundee’s tactics were not merely designed to frustrate Celtic. They created openings. It was Olivier Ntcham who bailed out Celtic’s misfiring strikers and broke the deadlock after 61 minutes.
Leigh Griffiths was a surprise starter given his recent exertions and he endured an unhappy afternoon before being replaced by Moussa Dembele with 15 minutes left.
Scott Bain foiled the striker in a one-on-one situation shortly before Celtic edged ahead. The Dundee goalkeeper also denied the lively Patrick Roberts after a slaloming run past several Dundee defenders.
These moments left those in attendance wondering if this might be the day when Celtic were finally made to rue missed opportunities. But a mistake by Paul McGowan, which was unrepresentative of a tight, disciplined Dundee performance, cost the visitors in the end.
McGowan was dispossessed around 25 yards from goal and Ntcham sent in a vicious, swirling shot that left Bain beaten to his left just after the hour mark.
It was cruel on Dundee. But they did not give up there, nor should they have done, because they were asking questions of Celtic. They wasted the best chance that did come their way when Roarie Deacon, who had done well to hold off Dedryck Boyata, saw his shot saved by Dorus De Vries in another one-on-one situation with 11 minutes left.
De Vries had previously distinguished himself when beating away McGowan’s shot as the Dundee midfielder attempted to atone for his earlier mistake. The returning goalkeeper, who hasn’t played since coming off at half time against Kilmarnock last September, also made a good stop to deny Dundee substitute Faissal El Bakhtaoui in time added on.
Dundee manager Neil McCann was understandably delighted with his players’ efforts. While he never likes losing, he felt they didn’t deserve to, hence his pride. He also bemoaned being denied two, perhaps even three, penalties. Glen Kamara was perhaps too honest in the first-half as he struggled to stay on his feet after a nick from Nir Bitton after 32 minutes.
McCann was most exercised by the clash that saw centre-half Jack Hendry, one of Dundee’s best outfield players, flattened in the box after 68 minutes. He suffered a serious head gash which required five stitches after challenging for a high ball with Cristian Gamboa, who McCann felt was reckless. Hendry was replaced by Jesse Curran as Dundee switched from a 3-4-1-2 formation to the more orthodox 4-4-2 in a bid to take something from the match.
McCann also complained about Dundee being denied another penalty by referee Andrew Dallas. The manager felt Boyata had impeded Deacon as the chunky winger tried to divert the ball past De Vries. McCann did accept that Deacon should have scored nonetheless. However, De Vries stood up well.
Two players were making comebacks after significant spells out. De Vries lost his place following Craig Gordon’s reinstatement last year, while Dundee centre-half Josh Meekings was making his first appearance in 2017 after a serious injury. They both had reasonable claims to be awarded the man of the match award. They were entitled to feel nervous but enjoyed personal success stories.
Roberts was the one who collected the award and he was one of Celtic’s few bright spots. Other than Gordon, whose understudy proved more than capable, those rested will not fear for their place.

RIDICULOUS Dundee boss Neil McCann slams referee Andrew Dallas for failing to award Dark Blues a penalty against Celtic
Jack Hendry was cleaned out by Hoops star Cristian Gamboa when they clashed heads in the box in the Parkhead clash