20th Dec 2017 Celtic 2 Partick Thistle 0 (SPFL Premiership - game 19)

matches:2017-18: ← 25game 2627 →

	Brendan Rodgers	Alan Archibald	40y, 5m, 7d

		Andy McCarthy; Steven Lawless
		Martin Woods; Conor Sammon

Stuart Armstrong (0-1, 35 mins); Kieran Tierney (0-2, 67 mins)
Kieran Tierney (0-1, 35 mins); Scott Sinclair (0-2, 67 mins)
		Andy McCarthy; Adam Barton; Danny Devine; Gary Fraser; Paul McGinn; Chris Erskine

James Forrest (Jonny Hayes, 62 mins); Scott Sinclair (Michael Johnston, 71 mins); Odsonne Édouard (Leigh Griffiths, 79 mins)		Andy McCarthy (Chris Erskine, 58 mins); Miles Storey (Kris Doolan, 64 mins); Blair Spittal (Gary Fraser, 73 mins)

	Craig Gordon	Tomáš Černý	32y, 8m, 10d
	Dedryck Boyata	Paul McGinn	27y, 1m, 28d
	Mikael Lustig	Jordan Turnbull	23y, 1m, 20d
	Kris Ajer	Niall Keown	22y, 8m, 15d
	Kieran Tierney	Danny Devine	25y, 3m, 13d
	Scott Brown	Adam Barton	26y, 11m, 13d
	Scott Sinclair	Blair Spittal	22y, 0m, 1d
	Stuart Armstrong	Andy McCarthy	19y, 2m, 0d
	Callum McGregor	Miles Storey	23y, 11m, 16d
	James Forrest	Ryan Edwards	24y, 1m, 3d
	Odsonne Édouard	Steven Lawless	26y, 8m, 8d

			24y, 10m, 22d

	future Jag Conor Hazard	Ryan Scully	25y, 1m, 21d
	Leigh Griffiths	Kris Doolan	31y, 0m, 9d
	Moussa Dembélé	Chris Erskine	30y, 10m, 12d
	Jonny Hayes	Milan Nitrianský	27y, 0m, 7d
	Olivier Ntcham	Conor Sammon	31y, 1m, 14d
	Erik Sviatchenko	Kevin Nisbet	20y, 9m, 12d
	Michael Johnston	Gary Fraser	23y, 5m, 18d

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Originally scheduled for Saturday, 25th November, 2017.

TTA report

Top v bottom saw Thistle have only 33% possession and no shots on target. They worked hard and kept their shape to limit the damage but hesitant defending led to the opener (35) and they were ripped open (67). Celtic won at a canter. Cerny had some fine saves and Storey ploughed a lonely furrow up front.

Media report

Martin Dowden, 20-Dec-2017, bbc.com

Goals from Stuart Armstrong and Kieran Tierney ensured Celtic returned to winning ways against Partick Thistle. After a drab opening, midfielder Armstrong rocketed home a left-foot shot from the edge of the penalty box. Odsonne Edouard went close after the break before Tierney combined with Scott Sinclair and slammed in a second. The champions, whose 69-game unbeaten domestic run was ended emphatically by Hearts, climb five points clear at the Scottish Premiership summit. Thistle remain two points adrift at the foot of the table, having won just three of their 19 league fixtures this term.

Backlash. Reaction. Whirlwind start. All pre-match cautions of what would be inflicted upon the lowly visitors after Celtic's hammering at Tynecastle. Pedestrian was perhaps a more fitting appraisal of the first half hour, a combination of discipline and structure from Thistle and a slow, overly-deliberate start from Celtic. That suited the Jags, who looked largely comfortable, other than when Kristoffer Ajer nodded Armstrong's fabulous delivery over from six yards, then Tierney's surging run set up Sinclair, who also fired his effort too high. So far, so good for a Thistle outfit who have not won an away league match since March. Their resistance was broken, though, by a touch of brilliance from Armstrong, the former Dundee United man looking more like the swashbuckling figure of last season. The 25-year-old gathered possession on the 18-yard line and did what no-one expected, unleashing a sensational left-foot howitzer high across Tomas Cerny and into his net.

Celtic held that lead at the break, and the second period was more open, Thistle endeavouring to create and the hosts appearing far sharper, with Tierney perhaps their biggest threat. Edouard, preferred to Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele as the fulcrum of the Celtic attack, had two chances to double the hosts' advantage. The Frenchman struck the first from a central area but his connection wasn't pure and Cerny saved well to his left. Sinclair then teed up the teenage striker, but Cerny was again well-placed to deny him. Eventually Celtic made the game safe with some incisive interplay between Sinclair and Tierney releasing the tireless young defender and he blasted home. Tierney had been inspirational throughout and deserved some reward for his display. Dedryck Boyata ought to have added a third from close range late in the game, but by then Celtic were well on their way to re-establishing a five-point cushion at the top of the table. Thistle meanwhile can perhaps take some heart from their first-half grit in what proved to be too great a task for Alan Archibald's men.

Reaction

Speaking to the BBC, Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald admits his team, two points adrift at the foot of the Premiership, struggled in attack:

We didn't pass the ball. We put in a lot of hard work but you need to take care of the ball and we didn't have enough guys wanting to play tonight, maybe that's because of our league position. We saw out the opening period but we didn't manage to lay a glove on them. Our concentration levels in defence were a lot better. We've got a massive game coming up against Hamilton and we want to get off the bottom of the league before Christmas.

Brendan Rodgers praised his Celtic side for bouncing back from their surprise hammering by Hearts with a comfortable home win:

I said to the players, it's how you're defined as a player and team - how you respond to disappointment. It was a great response. Obviously they showed their real qualities tonight. We had games against Partick at home last year that we drew 1-1 and won 1-0, but tonight, particularly second half, we had good control of the game. We had to be patient first-half and maybe could've played forward a bit more into the space to find the areas better. We got a brilliant goal from Stuart, it's a great strike and it gives us some breathing space in the game. We fixed some things at half-time in order to position ourselves better, to try to get more attacking momentum, and I thought we were much better second-half. We scored a very good second goal and had a few chances. I was very pleased, our response was great. That's how these types of games are at times. Alan Archibald sets his teams up very well so we had to have patience in the game and the first goal was vital. We found it, then our fluency was much better and second half we were very good. It's a young team and they showed great maturity in the game to keep the clean sheet - we didn't have too many scares this evening. And like I say, solid defensively and looked creative going forward.

PROJECTING LOWS FROM ALL ANGLES

● 23-year-old Gary Fraser plays his last game for Thistle.

● Jordan Turnbull reaches a new personal-best tally of 10 consecutive competitive appearances, and is one of seven players currently on such a run.

● For the first time in the Archibald era, 6 Thistle players receive yellow cards in a single match. Looking back, previous highs for Jagsmen were six bookings in a 2-2 draw at Fir Park in August, 2003 and in a 4-2 defeat at Brockville in February, 1993.

● As we sit at the halfway point of the season, Thistle have amassed 49 yellow cards in competitive action. The average in the last 20 years has only been 62. During that period, the most cards received in competitive action in a single season was 81 in 2005-06.

● Thistle are on course to record a goal difference of -40 which would be a new low since the criteria was introduced in 1970.

● Thistle have failed to score in 47.4% of their League games this term, and remain on course to register the highest failure rate of any Thistle side in history.

● Thistle go 25 League games without a win versus Celtic, a run which stretches from 7th October, 1995, to date.

ongoing sequences:

● 9 competitive away games without a win; 19th Aug 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 11 games; 24th Feb 2007 to 6th Oct 2007. Club-record: 25 games; 20th Apr 1908 to 28th Aug 1909.)

● 15 away League games without a win; 18th Mar 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 17 games; 16th Aug 2003 to 17th Apr 2004. Club-record: 26 games; 20th Mar 1935 to 29th Aug 1936.)

● 47 consecutive competitive appearances for Adam Barton, 28th Dec 2016 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Steven Lawless - 53 games; 9th Aug 2015 to 15th Oct 2016. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games; 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

● 72 away League games without a penalty award, 1st Mar 2014 to date. (A new club-record.)

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