Sandman’s Definitive Ratings are being used by The Celtic Star this season to select our Player of the Year. Normally we’d run a poll on the site but given the way the season has panned out for Celtic, that’s not really a prospect many supporters would relish, to say the least. Instead we’re counting up the ratings given by Sandman on his wonderful post match feature after each and every Celtic game to determine who actually contributed what.
We’re only counting marks for the starting eleven so if a player was on the bench then there’s no marks for that game. And we know that many reckon that Sandman can be somewhat over generous with with his marks on occasion but he’s always consistent in the marks awarded after watching each game. Alcoholic consumption is probably a consistent factor throughout although inevitably it may have increased as the season went from bad to worse, starting around October, the month we are going to look at today.
If you read back you’ll see the total results for August which had Scott Brown in the lead, then the running total for August and by the end of September Callum McGregor was the new leader. Now for October, where Celtic had six matches, won the first two, then suffered two defeats before ending the month with two draws.
The wins were against our old friends FK Sarajevo (1-0) to earn a place in the Europa League Group stages and then away to St Johnstone (2-0) with very late goals from Leigh Griffiths and Patryk Klimala keeping the pursuit for the Ten on track. So far so good.
Fate intervened after that. The international break cost Celtic the services of both Odsonne Edouard, who tested positive for Covid while away with the French Under 21s and Ryan Christie who was forced to self isolate after being named alongside Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney as a close contract with former Celt Stuart Armstrong who had also tested positive. Curiously Tierney was allowed to play for Arsenal on the same weekend that Christie was denied the opportunity to play against theRangers.
The defensive weaknesses in the Celtic side were exploited to the full by the Ibrox club. An early goal allowed them to sit in and with Celtic’s attacking options severely weakened, it was no surprise when they added a second killer goal. The advantage was clearly now with theRangers but the situation was far from hopeless.
Next up was the visit of AC Milan in a Europa League Group where Celtic were actually top seeds – yet ended up in a group that could easily have been what you’d expect to see in the Champions League. AC Milan, Lille and Sparta Prague where significantly tougher than the much more favourably fourth seeds theRangers ended up with in their group. Lady luck was clearly with them in this season.
Celtic played reasonably well, given the circumstances but Milan won comfortably enough (3-1) and Celtic’s tough run of fixtures continued with a trip to Pittodrie up next. Neil Lennon’s side got themselves ahead (3-2) but conceded a penalty in the closing seconds of stoppage time to drop two more points. The month’s action ended in the North of France where Celtic raced into a 2-0 lead before being clawed back to share the spoils with a side that is on track to beat PSG to the French title this season.
So to the ratings after we factor in Sandman’s Definitive Ratings for all six matches in October. These have been added to the marks already awarded in the first two months of the season.
SANDMAN’S DEFINITIVE RATINGS – TOTALS FOR AUGUST, SEPTEMBER AND NOW OCTOBER…
1. CALLUM McGREGOR – STARTS 17 POINTS 116
2. SCOTT BROWN – STARTS 15 POINTS 101.5
3. KRISTOFFER AJER – STARTS 15 POINTS 99
4. VASILIS BARKAS – STARTS 13 POINTS 89.5
5. RYAN CHRISTIE – STARTS 13 POINTS 87
6. GREGG TAYLOR – STARTS 12 POINTS 73
7. JEREMIE FRIMPONG – STARTS 12 POINTS 73
8. OLIVIER NTCHAM – STARTS 12 POINTS 68.5
9. MOI ELYOUNOUSSI – STARTS 12 POINTS 67
10. SHANE DUFFY – STARTS 11 POINTS 60.5
11. ODSONNE EDOUARD – STARTS 8 POINTS 50.5
12. NIR BITTON – STARTS 7 POINTS 48
13. JAMES FORREST – STARTS 8 POINTS 45.5
14. CHRIS JULLIEN – STARTS 7 POINTS 45
15. HATEM ELHAMED – STARTS 7 POINTS 40.5
16. ALBIAN AJETI STARTS 6 POINTS 37
17. DIEGO LAXALT – STARTS 4 POINTS 26
18. SCOTT BAIN – STARTS 3 POINTS 20
19. PATRYK KLIMALA – STARTS 3 POINTS 15.5
20. STEPHEN WELSH – STARTS 2 POINTS 9
21. TOM ROGIC – STARTS 1 POINTS 6.5
22. LEIGH GRIFFITHS – STARTS 1 POINTS 4
23. DAVID TURNBULL – STARTS 1 POINTS 4
Some stand-out points worth noting. Injuries to Jullien, Forrest and Bitton weakened Celtic in this month. Barkas continues to score decent ratings before being dropped. Ajer had a strong month, while some new names are added to the list at the bottom with Welsh, Rogic, Griffiths and Turnbull getting their first starts of the season. Callum McGregor has increased his lead at the top of the table.
Sandman’s November Ratings will be added to the running total tomorrow along with a review of the month.
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