LOOKING BACK: ACSOM'S CELTIC SEASON REVIEW PART 1
- By LIAM McBRIDE
- 4 days ago
- 9 min read
In the first of a series of articles looking back at Celtic's double-winning season, Liam McBride reviews the first 3 months of the 2024/25 season.
It’s been a long season hasn’t it? Ultimately, it didn’t end in the treble that we all wished for, nonetheless, a domestic double and European progress is nothing to be scoffed at. So, how did it all happen?
Today we remember the first quarter.
Heading Into the 2024/25 Celtic Season
Take yourself back to the Summer of 2024. Celtic had just lifted their third consecutive league title. Despite an eight-point margin at the top, it was anything but routine. Celtic trailed their rivals in February with many calling for Brendan Rodgers’ head. Following the Winter Break the Champions struggled.
They narrowly beat Ross County 1-0 before drawing away to Aberdeen. The following week they needed two penalties to defeat Hibernian and fell to a goalless draw at home to Kilmarnock. Trailing Rangers in the table, and 1-0 down to Motherwell at halftime, things were not looking promising.
Yet, a late strike from Adam Idah to secure all three points proved to be monumental. Following the match Rodgers defiantly said that this Celtic side would “write their own story”. From that moment on, the Bhoys never looked back.
Having said that, the sentiment was still unsatisfactory. Many felt that the Parkhead side had been given a warning shot by their rivals, and with more Champions League money coming their way, the Celtic Board should back their manager and strengthen the squad to a point where Rangers could no longer compete.
In the month of July, Celtic enjoyed a successful pre-season with wins over DC United plus Premier League giants Chelsea and Man City (albeit they were two weeks behind in schedule). Across the other side of the city, it was a messy scene. Rangers didn’t know when they could return to Ibrox while Phillipe Clement’s resources were limited.
Still though, heading into the opening league game, Celtic had yet to truly strengthen their outfield options. An already present Paulo Bernardo secured a permanent move on the eve of August, while Viljami Sinsalo and Kasper Schmeichel had replaced Joe Hart and Benjamin Seigrist. Speculation around Matt O’Riley’s future continued to mount.
August
After Rangers already dropped points away to Hearts, Celtic headed into trophy day knowing they could already get a jump start on their rivals. Derek McInnes's Kilmarnock were the opponents, coming off a fourth placed finish the season beforehand.
They proved little competition for the Bhoys, who ran away four-nil winners. They employed a man-marking system to try and stifle space, but in the end, the superior quality of the Celtic midfield showed.
Reo Hatate scored the first goal, a goal which was rather symbolic of Celtic’s start to the season. Straight from the off, the counter-pressing intentions were clear. A neat passage of play saw Kilmarnock quickly gain possession, however, in a flash, O’Riley and Taylor pounced on the Killie defence, with the former tackling and the latter executing a quick pass to Hatate.
With Daizen Maeda unavailable early on, James Forrest took to the left-wing role and looked so comfortable. In the earlier years of his career, he featured primarily on the right wing, with his pace being the major factor. However, in the twilight period of his career, he has developed his game to be more complete and looks equally comfortable on both sides.
Kyogo, who unknowingly at the time would be spending his final few months at the club, looked incredibly sharp, dropping deep to link the play for Kuhn’s first goal of the season.
A week later, the Champions faced Hibernian for the first time of a doubleheader. On league duty, it was an afternoon kick-off on Sky Sports that didn’t disappoint. David Gray’s men employed a shockingly high defensive line, with Celtic breaking through it just two minutes in with the pace of Kyogo, Forrest and Kuhn all combining.
The German had made it two goals from two and looked an altogether different prospect from the player signed from Rapid Vienna the previous January. Soon after Callum McGregor would score his first of many long-shot goals of the season with a stunning strike into the top left-hand corner.
The following week, Celtic began their road to a twenty-second League Cup title with another victory over the Hibees. The visitors didn’t learn from their previous defensive setup and once again played a high defensive line at Paradise. It just happened to be the day that Daizen Maeda returned to the pitch, although this time in a striker role.
The twenty-seven-year-old would have been licking his lips at the space left in behind and bagged two early goals. At that time, there was demand to bring in a third striker to supplement Kyogo and Idah, however, the sentiment changed for some after such a convincing display from Japan’s number nine. Kuhn would also get in on the act, with a pressing move between himself and of course, Maeda, forcing an error from Josef Bursik.
The final week of the transfer window came and the Bhoys had still completed little business. Names such as Mateusz Bogusz and Arne Engels had been floating around for a considerable time, but the league leaders seemed no nearer to a deal.
However, one week before deadline day and the first derby of the season, Matt O’Riley was left out of the squad to face St Mirren, and Rodgers confirmed that the Dane was completing a medical for Brighton and Hove Albion.
The dampening news had little effect on the pitch though as the Hoops blew away Stephen Robinson’s men by three goals to nil with another McGregor strike, a Hatate half volley and Johnson goal enough to make it three wins from three.
The following week a flurry of business was completed at Lennoxtown. Arne Engels broke Celtic’s transfer record, striking an £11 million deal from Augsburg, meanwhile, Bogusz’s deal fell through. In came boyhood Celtic fan Luke McCowan for £1 million from Dundee, who would go on to score double figures in his debut season.
In defence, Auston Trusty signed for £6 million from Sheffield United while Alex Valle joined on loan from the now La Liga Champions, Barcelona. In terms of outgoings, Gustaf Lagerbielke joined FC Twente on loan, while Mikey Johnston secured a deal with West Brom.
The ever-reliable and underrated Tomoki Iwata joined Chris Davies at the Tom Brady Birmingham project.
September
Celtic continued their derby day dominance with a 3-0 routing of Rangers. Clement’s men pressed the game early on, but Celtic played through with excellence, as Johnson, Hatate, McGregor, Kuhn and Kyogo dismantled their structure to take an early lead. The goal may have been disallowed, but it struck fear into the hearts of the men in blue.
Maeda peeled off Tavernier yet again to take the lead, and soon after more excellent counter-pressing contributed to Kyogo doubling Celtic’s lead. With the game seemingly petering out, McGregor produced one of the goals of the season to ensure Celtic of the victory and a four-point gap in as many games.
Following the international break, Celtic returned to action with a routine 2-0 victory over Steven Naismith’s Hearts. Engels made his first start and excelled, with a penalty goal to merit his efforts. Luke McCowan also scored his first goal in the famous hoops to continue Celtic’s 100% domestic record.
With such a positive start to the season, the Champions League arrived. Since the first day of pre-season, “progress in Europe” was the phrase on everybody’s lips. Celtic had proven they could dominate the domestic game, but could they make the step up?
The narrative around Celtic’s supposed dreadful form in Europe was truthfully a little misleading. The previous season they beat Feyenoord at home, drew with Atletico and lost to Lazio only thanks to a last-minute winner from Pedro.
Away to Atletico and Feyenoord, they saw a combined three red cards, while a 2-0 loss to Sarri’s men was the result of two Imobille goals in the final ten minutes. The results weren’t great, but within games they were competitive. Nevertheless, the Celts welcomed Slovan Bratislava for the first game of the new Champions League format.
The Slovakian outfit were little trouble on the night, losing 5-1 to a rampant Celtic side. Arne Engels showed his class in midfield throughout the ninety and scored his second penalty in a week.
Yet, just a few days later, Celtic were trailing Championship outfit Falkirk by two goals to one in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final. Super-sub Kuhn saved the day, coming on with two goals and two assists to fire the home side into a semi-final meeting with Aberdeen. It was also a big moment for Adam Idah, who scored two goals separated by less than a minute to turn the tie on its head.
All was heading in the right direction. St Johnstone were the next victims of a Celtic onslaught. With six goals and five different scorers, Celtic headed into Dortmund brimming with confidence.
October
Perhaps, there was too much confidence.
Up until a Tuesday night at the Signal Iduna Park, the season had started perfectly. Yet, the display in Dortmund brought Rodgers’ side right back down to earth. Celtic pressed the game, with little compactness and organisation and found themselves played through like a knife through hot butter.
The home side were ultimately able to skip over a midfield and leave their dangerously quick frontline running at the Celtic back four. After the match Rodgers insisted that it was like nothing he had ever seen, stating that the German giants scored with almost every shot they had. Perhaps though, that was due to the quality of chances they were able to create with such ease.
While it’s true that the scoreline exaggerated the gulf, it was nevertheless a dominant display from the home side. The fallout was bleak, with Rodgers repeatedly asked if he would change his attacking approach. He insisted against doing so, but actions speak louder than words, and the Irishman set out his team a lot more astutely for the rest of the continental campaign.
It was almost as though such a disappointing midweek display caused a hangover, as Celtic started slowly in the Highlands. One nil down, with just under fifteen minutes to go thanks to a silly piece of defending from Liam Scales conceding a penalty, there was work to do. Alistair Johnston continued his early-season scoring spree with a fortunate equaliser, while Nicolas Kuhn continued to impress and showed grit to score a fantastic late winner.
Celtic then travelled to Sligo Rovers for an International break friendly. It was a night to forget for Scott Bain who threw the ball into his own net, but thanks to a Luis Palma hattrick, Celtic left the Showgrounds with a 3-2 win. The Honduran was linked with a move away from the Glasgow side in August, but stayed put and was fighting for his place.
New title rivals (at the time) Aberdeen traveled to Celtic Park, level on points and looking to make a statement. However, it was the home side who started excellently, with a terrifically worked goal. Nicolas Kuhn found Arne Engels in the Celtic half, with the Belgian playing an exquisitely timed pass for the on-running Kyogo.
The Japanese forward then played a perfect low cross for Reo Hatate to hammer home. The Celtic faithful were in awe at such a beautiful piece of football. However, the second goal was rather more fortunate, with a defensive mistake from the visitors leaving Kyogo with a chance he couldn’t miss.
Celtic were dominant and seemingly in control. Yet, a world-class pass from Jamie McGrath sent Ester Sokler through on goal to half the deficit. Soon after, a deflected effort from Graeme Shinnie found the roof of the net, and just minutes later Duk had a goal disallowed. Late on, Celtic thought they had found the net when the Portuguese appeared to have cleared the ball off the line with his hand.
Afterwards many hailed an Aberdeen side who left Celtic Park unscathed. Neil McCann went as far as to say Thelin’s men had a “Leicester feel about them”. The reality is that Rodgers’ side dominated, they just lacked the clinical edge.
After an embarrassing display in Dortmund, which saw Celtic ridiculed throughout the British media, they traveled to Italy to face the in-form Serie A outfit: Atalanta. Gasperini’s men had started the Champions League campaign strongly with four points from two games, including a goalless draw against Arsenal. There was a sense of dread amongst the Celtic fans, with Carter-Vickers still out and Greg Taylor missing.
Yet, Alex Valle stepped in and produced a colossal performance, as did the Celtic defence. A midfield of Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Arne Engels were incredibly disciplined, with the latter doing an excellent man-marking job on Ademola Lookman. Plus, Adam Idah’s hold up play on the night bought Celtic some vital time.
Sure, the Hoops had to ride their luck at times, with the home side hitting the woodwork on occasion, but you could argue it was deserved luck after the opposite occurred in the Dortmund clash. Kasper Schmeichel produced a heroic performance, and suddenly after three games, with the two toughest out of the road, four points were on the board.
Two more comfortable domestic performances rounded off October for the Champions, with a 3-0 away win to Motherwell plus a 2-0 home victory against Tony Docherty’s Dundee.
