Sandman’s Player of the Year Ratings – Things Go From Bad to Worse during Celtic’s Grim November

After the morale boosting Europa League draw away to French league leaders Lille at the end of October many thought or hoped but tellingly few expected Celtic to have put their bad patch behind them and kick-on. This after all was the most important season domestically in a generation.

November opened with great win against Aberdeen in the Covid delayed 2020 Scottish Cup semi-final earning Celtic a chance to compete the Quadruple Treble the following month. A great goal from Ryan Christie and a lovely set up from Tom Rogic for Moi Elyounoussi started the month well for Neil Lennon’s side.

What happened next was one of the most embarrassing nights ever for a once proud European side like Celtic, losing 4-1 at home to Sparta Prague who were fielding a reserve side due to Covid issues of their own. Tactically Celtic were a disgrace and that night The Celtic Star called on the Celtic Board to act regarding the manager. Sadly it was obvious that Neil Lennon could not succeed at Celtic with this group of players. Many incidentally had been saying this for many weeks, or even months before but after this game there was no way back for Neil Lennon.

The Jekyll and Hyde nature of Celtic’s performances saw a decent 4-1 win at Motherwell follow on from the Prague disaster, then two points were dropped at Easter Road, damaging still further any remaining hopes of doing the Ten. That was what followed was worse. Much worse.

Celtic travelled to Prague, took the lead through Odsonne Edouard then collapsed defensively, losing 4 goals, that was 8-2 on aggregate for a top seed to lose to a fourth seed. Truly shocking. A year before that Celtic were winning in Rome. What the hell had happened? Then the month ended with Ross County visiting Celtic Park in the League Cup and deservedly winning 2-0 to end Celtic’s trip on every domestic trophy. There would be a club other than Celtic winning a trophy for the first time since Alan Stubbs, Tony Stokes and Liam Henderson combined to help Hibs win the 2016 Scottish Cup Final. Times they were a changing. Supporters gathered at Celtic Park to protest but their actions and the wall of noise on social media and online was ignored by a Celtic Board guilty of dereliction of duty.

Sandman’s wonderful post match ratings are being used this season – given the circumstances we find ourselves in – to determine The Celtic Star’s Player of the Year. When we add Sandman’s ratings from November to the previous three months running total the scoreboard looks like this by the end of November. Look down that list and you’ll see who is contributing and who is not. Barkas lost his place to Bain. An improvement, on the basis that one is as bad as the other maybe not, but Barkas’ ratings suggest he was unlucky to lose his starting position in the team. Just saying.

Rogic had a wee purple patch before fading, Laxalt had his best spell at the club, Edouard is proving to be a huge disappointment, living on past glories more than delivering this season. McGregor, Brown and even Ryan Christie are the ones carrying the load for the team.

SANDMAN’S DEFINITIVE RATINGS – TOTALS FOR UP TO AND INCLUDING ALL GAMES IN NOVEMBER

1. CALLUM McGREGOR – STARTS 23 POINTS 146
2. SCOTT BROWN – STARTS 21 POINTS 138.5
3. RYAN CHRISTIE – STARTS 19 POINTS 119.5
4. KRISTOFFER AJER – STARTS 18 POINTS 112
5. JEREMIE FRIMPONG – STARTS 16 POINTS 98.5
6. VASILIS BARKAS – STARTS 14 POINTS 94.5
7. MOI ELYOUNOUSSI – STARTS 17 POINTS 93
8. NIR BITTON – STARTS 12 POINTS 74
9. OLIVIER NTCHAM – STARTS 13 POINTS 73.5
10. GREGG TAYLOR – STARTS 12 POINTS 73
11. SHANE DUFFY – STARTS 13 POINTS 72
12. ODSONNE EDOUARD – STARTS 12 POINTS 69
13. DIEGO LAXALT – STARTS 10 POINTS 60
14. ALBIAN AJETI STARTS 10 POINTS 55
15. CHRIS JULLIEN – STARTS 9 POINTS 52.5
16. SCOTT BAIN – STARTS 8 POINTS 49.5
17. JAMES FORREST – STARTS 8 POINTS 45.5
18. HATEM ELHAMED – STARTS 9 POINTS 40.5
19. TOM ROGIC – STARTS 6 POINTS 35
20. PATRYK KLIMALA – STARTS 3 POINTS 15.5
21. STEPHEN WELSH – STARTS 2 POINTS 9
22. LEIGH GRIFFITHS – STARTS 1 POINTS 4
23. DAVID TURNBULL – STARTS 1 POINTS 4

Sandman’s December Ratings will be added to the running total tomorrow along with a review of the month.

READ THIS…Book Review: Alec McNair – Celtic’s Icicle by David Potter 

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