Celtic’s most important game of the week is on Saturday as the Champions return to league action against newly promoted Dundee.
Miserabilism
But what about the Feyenoord away Champions League tie on Tuesday?
Well, I could get arsey here. Something along the lines of:
“If Celtic are not interested in putting a Champions League competitive side out on the park, why should I be interested?”
But I wouldn’t go that far.
Last season Celtic were badly exposed in the main by Pot One Real Madrid and Pot Two RB Leipzig. No disgrace in the former – arguably best team in world club football and no one in Celtic’s current group would be as strong.
A highly efficient, cohesive and attack minded Ange Postecoglou side made dents in both sides’ defences but ultimately shipped 13 goals and it could have been many more.
With the failure to fix the problematic left side of the defence and midfield (unfortunate injury crisis in central defence is one of those things), and key spine members Joe Hart and Callum McGregor one year older and a little less speedy and agile, Celtic look weaker going into this campaign.
In a strong group, therefore, my own expectations are limited. I reserve the right to get giddy again if the situation changes!
Eye -> Prize
Putting aside my Euro sceptical miserabilism, more importantly winning the league this season is absolutely mission critical.
Such is the likely impact of the Champions League revamp (more matches, more chance of getting through to the knockout and MORE MONEY – it’s what we are all here for) that countenancing not winning the league is an appalling vista indeed. Think Boris Johnson standing naked in front of Ibrox on a wet Tuesday night.
A feature of recent times on Twitter (stick X up your bollox) has been a veritable plethora of “coefficient porn”. That is, accounts that pore over every fourteenth decimal change in club coefficients that decide European club competition allocations. Make your own pot/kettle/black joke here.
One such is called Scotland’s Coefficient and this account does a nice job of providing exhaustive detail on the impacts of each result.
One such tweet concerned the likely impact of the 2024/25 season changes from UEFA.
TL;DR – this season Celtic are guaranteed around 30m Euros from their *cough* campaign whereas next season that could rise to 40 or 50 million Euros next season in the Champions League. The 20223/24 Scottish Champions get automatic group stage entry.
In the context of Scottish football, that is substantial and game changing. And let’s be honest – would you like to see the other lot be able to deploy such vast resources?
Dundee
So, back to Dundee.
Winning the league is vital, and with Celtic making a less than cohesive start to the season, at this stage nothing can be taken for granted.
Whilst a long way from being fearful, we should acknowledge that Dundee has the third best xG differential (1.53 – 0.91) and third best post shot xG differential.
They are also third for total xG and number of big chances created.
One to make you twitchy – they lead the league in xG generated from set plays.
They will be direct as we are accustomed and look to play their football in Celtic’s half – 58% of their completed passes are in enemy territory.
We are used to Dundee being, well, a bit crap. Historically a diabolically run club/company (same thing, Timmy) they have hit an oasis of cohesion it would seem under manager Tony Docherty.
They have bolstered their ranks with loan signings from England in the main:

Of those, Boateng, Beck, Robinson and Bakayoko have quickly established themselves whilst Shaughnessey, Carson and Lamie are solid SPFL players.
What the front players will bring is physicality, pace and power to what may still be a fragile and evolving Celtic back line.
A 1-0 win versus Heart of Midlothian is their season high amidst a solid SPFL return.
So, what may seem bland SPFL fare on Saturday is vital in the context of establishing an early run of unbeaten league form. Every league point is crucial.