The Huddle Breakdown: Stats Packs

Celtic 6, St Mirren 2 (After Extra Time) - 19th April, 2026

Alan Morrison — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 11:36:00 GMT

Getting to the Scottish Cup Final at the end of May is such a treat to look forward to, and Celtic achieved that with an incredible barrage of four goals in six minutes in extra time to overwhelm a St Mirren side in transition.

Having Neil Lennon’s Championship Dunfermline Athletic waiting in the final, since they’ve dispatched three SPFL Premier teams, heightens the anticipation.

And pretty much anything could happen!

Celtic 1, St Mirren 0 - 11th April, 2026

Alan Morrison — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:17:40 GMT

Catching up after a week away.

Celtic clung onto the title race with an early goal at home to a St Mirren remodelled by Craig McLeish into a ball hogging passing team.

Dundee 1, Celtic 2 - 5th April, 2026

Alan Morrison — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:24:53 GMT

Celtic got an early lead and added a dominant opening 45 minutes.

The first corner faced resulted in bouncing ball chaos, and what this season has been typical negative variance with a handball.

But Celtic recovered to win, adding hugely to stresses elsewhere.

Dundee United 2, Celtic 0 - 22nd March, 2026

Alan Morrison — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 07:31:21 GMT

Celtic has played the two polar opposite sides in the “style of play” spectrum in Motherwell and Dundee United over the last two weeks. The unifying feature of those matches is that both opponents were allowed to play the game they wanted and Celtic reacted around that.

This seems to be the defining feature of Martin O’Neill’s Celtic.

Celtic 3, Motherwell 1 - 14th March, 2026

Alan Morrison — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:03:08 GMT

The Champions continue to battle for wins as the pressure within each match increases.

Motherwell were very pleasing to watch, and are a very well coached side, albeit with a thin squad.

The Rangers 0, Celtic 0 (Celtic win 4-2 on penalties) - 8th March, 2026

Alan Morrison — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:25:35 GMT

There is much to be said about the short comings of this Celtic side, and many of them were on display at Ibrox in a remarkable Scottish Cup tie.

Celtic had no efforts on goal. None.

Yet prevailed on penalties in the ultimate smash and grab.

Abject defeat brought the historically common response from an angry home crowd.

Aberdeen 1, Celtic 2 - 4th March, 2026

Alan Morrison — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 11:53:14 GMT

We’ll need to accept there is some form of terrible beauty in continuing to perform like this and win. Football as “difficult” art, perhaps.

The Rangers 2, Celtic 2 - 1st March, 2026

Alan Morrison — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:22:42 GMT

In one sense we learned nothing new about this Celtic side.

It is a rag tag arrangement of loanees, imminent retirees, back ups and could be’s.

But we learned they have the stomach for a fight, another comeback, and perhaps the mental fortitude for what will be a crazy season’s end.

We also learned more about the incredible recovery job Danny Rohl has performed for the home side.

VfB Stuttgart 0, Celtic 1 - 26th February, 2026

Alan Morrison — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 20:53:25 GMT

A landmark first win on German soil, but ultimately all for nought.

Celtic 1, Hibernian 2 - 22nd February, 2026

Alan Morrison — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:09:05 GMT

Whilst mathematically, and based on the capabilities of the challengers, there is every chance of Celtic success this season, performances such as this will deflate many.

Celtic 1, VfB Stuttgart 4 - 19th February, 2026

Alan Morrison — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 17:43:04 GMT

I calculate a metric called Final Third Effectiveness.

It reflects a teams ability to get shots or corners or otherwise retain possession in the final third versus simply losing the ball.

In European football the average for opponents is 30%.

Stuttgart’s score is the highest I’ve recorded by any opponent and was 57%.

In football vernacular, you’d say “we didn’t make them work very hard for their goals”.

Kilmarnock 2, Celtic 3 - 15th February, 2026

Alan Morrison — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:39:07 GMT

There is nothing wrong with scoring last minute winners. A healthy habit to have. It certainly triggers all the right people, as the youngsters say. But it would be great if it was on the back of dominant, controlled performances!

The main conundrum prior to this match was replacing the stricken Arne Engels, the latest in a long line of soft tissue victims. Hoping Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren could provide the discipline, positioning and athleticism to plug central midfield and support a horribly isolated Callum McGregor, was forlorn.

Celtic 2, Livingston 1 - 11th February, 2026

Alan Morrison — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:31:13 GMT

With the opposition keeper making nine save, and racking up over 3 xG, one shouldn’t feel guilty about such victories.

But by Christ it would be nice to have a few “run of the mill” ones.

A storming start, early goal all seemed to set it up for a comfortable evening.

However, with the variance monster running loose across the league, that is unlikely to be the case for the foreseeable.

Celtic 2, Dundee 1 (AET) - 7th February, 2026

Alan Morrison — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:37:14 GMT

Firstly credit due to Dundee who came to play a high pressing game, to pass out from the back, and to deploy two wingers to pin Celtic back. They belied their league form with an expansive performance.

Celtic made changes, and in midfield in particular, lacked creativity and forward drive.

A reminder that the only place to get Celtic domestic Cup data is here.

Celtic 2, Falkirk 0 - 1st February, 2026

Alan Morrison — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 17:38:53 GMT

For the fourth time in six matches, Celtic lost the xG battle but won the “only stat that matters” war.

And so it seems it will be. The title challengers all seem bought into this trend.

Falkirk deserve credit for a front foot, high press game plan that pinned Celtic back for periods of the game. Their lack of goal was a hinderance although Kasper Schmeichel continues to mix it up and was a force for good in this game.

Celtic’s own reliable goal scorer seems empowered with the trust placed in him, and another sumptuous finish followed. It’s also positive to see a new striker get off the mark.

Celtic 4, FC Utrecht 2 - January 29th, 2026

Alan Morrison — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 18:27:51 GMT

Never before has Celtic raced into a three goal lead within 20 minutes of any European tie.

Yet another opposition goalkeeper howler (Vasilis Barkas!) an own goal, and then the cruellest penalty since the last one against Celtic, maintained the Martin O’Neill Juju vibes.

The game then meandered aimlessly with Celtic seemingly content to see it out before two shots from outside the box, the second bounced in off Kasper Schmeichel’s bionic left arm, made if far more interesting than it needed to be.

A nice, tidy Utrecht never really created a meaningful chance, allowing Celtic to saunter through despite another weirdly shapeless performance.

Does it matter if a side lacks identify if it is winning? The answer to that is probably “no” until it’s “yes”.

Heart of Midlothian 2, Celtic 2 - 25th January, 2026

Alan Morrison — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:48:11 GMT

The Champions were dragged, seemingly willingly, into a game of hoof ball.

Unwisely as it turned out, as a game lacking virtually any ball control (and those rare moments of control generated Celtic’s best chances) turned instead into a series of duels.

Not versed in this rope-a-dope, a series of free kicks followed as, characteristically, contact = foul in some circumstances, but not others.

Bologna 1909 2, Celtic 2 - 22nd January, 2026

Alan Morrison — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 15:32:34 GMT

Celtic pressed their Italian opponents effectively enough to force an early lead, and looked well in the game until Reo Hatate’s unprofessionalism took over, and they faced 60 minutes with 10 men.

What could have been an exhausting game of press, transition, counter press, transition, repeat became an exhausting game of cross, clear, cross, shoot, clear, repeat.

Auchinleck Talbot 0, Celtic 2 - 18th January, 2026

Alan Morrison — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 13:25:00 GMT

Unless they melted and conceded ten, the Ayrshire junior side were always going to be the only moral winners here.

An Auchinleck showed admirable organisation, shape, resolve and fight to put up a barrier for Celtic’s attacking.

As I’ll expand on in the next podcast, this match was not unusual when compared to similar early away ties in the Scottish Cup, on artificial ground, against lower league opposition.

Other than the frankly laughable need to give Callum McGregor another 88 minutes, this was an opportunity to see many of the fringe players.

As always, some winners and losers, and we’ll get more into that on the podcast too.

Bhoy of the Match in these circumstances will tend to go to the player who has created the most attacking threat, as opposed to a defender racking up 170 passes!

Falkirk 0, Celtic 1 - 14th January, 2026

Alan Morrison — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:57:26 GMT

A valuable three points, and really, that’s all that probably matters (unless you care about future matches).

The level of inconsistency from many players must be infuriating for Martin O’Neill, as it has been for those that preceded him.

Credit, as is usually appropriate, must go to John McGlynn and his Falkirk side.

After marching through two divisions, and showing faith in the same players, he has adapted his side who are now comfortably in the top six.

The 64 year old McGlynn has learned well from the 67 year old trend setter in man to man pressing off the ball Gian Piero Gasperini.

His Falkirk side nullified Celtic’s un-press-resistant midfield, and double teamed Celtic’s wingers to great effect. It wouldn’t have mattered which striker you had under those conditions, and Celtic tried three.

Still, the Bairns are the only team in the league smaller and less physical than Celtic, and the poacher Benjamin Nygren was able to score inside the six yard box without jumping, from a corner.

Kasper Schmeichel remarkably turned back into a stopper of shots. Perhaps O’Neill is a magician after all.

Bhoy of the Match reflects the stoic nature required under difficult circumstances.

This squad needs urgent quality help.