Assessing Current Celtic Squad Against Rodgers’ Undefeated Team

A question many managers in Scotland’s top flight and beyond are contemplating is whether any team will defeat Celtic this season. This leads to a subsequent inquiry: how would such a feat be achieved? As they pursue a fourth consecutive title, Brendan Rodgers’ team has already secured a three-goal victory over Rangers, triumphed away at second-placed Aberdeen, and decisively defeated the same side by six goals in the League Cup semi-finals. Their domestic dominance is reflected in stark statistics: they have accumulated 40 out of a possible 42 Premiership points, holding a seven-point lead at the top of the table, which could extend to ten if they win their game in hand. Furthermore, they maintain a perfect away record in the league and have scored 65 goals in 22 matches across all competitions. Their only defeat came against Borussia Dortmund, last season’s Champions League finalists. The benchmark Celtic is establishing is exceptionally high. Eight years ago, in his inaugural season, Rodgers guided his squad to an unbeaten sweep of all three major Scottish trophies, a feat dubbed the ‘invincible treble’. The standard set that season included 106 points from a possible 114 in the Premiership. The possibility of Rodgers repeating this achievement is now being considered. The 2016-17 squad featured prominent players such as Kieran Tierney, Dedryck Boyata, Scott Sinclair, and Patrick Roberts. By early March, Moussa Dembele had netted 32 goals. In the Champions League, Rodgers’ team competed directly with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, earning two highly respectable draws. However, the current team is just one victory away from securing a spot in the latter stages of Europe’s elite competition. With a core comprising Kasper Schmeichel, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Callum McGregor, and Kyogo, alongside Daizen Maeda’s pace and the flair of Reo Hatate and Nicolas Kuhn, another question arises: Is this Celtic team superior to Rodgers’ ‘invincible’ side? Some supporters are already pondering this very comparison, while other Scottish clubs remain focused on the initial challenge: devising a strategy to overcome a Celtic team that is consistently strengthening under a manager aiming for his third treble at Parkhead.