After six league matches last season, Brendan Rodgers' side were on 20 goals. Saturday's goalless draw with Hibs, which resulted in the reigning champions dropping to second in the table behind leaders Hearts, already marked the fourth time they have failed to score in a game this campaign. Despite Celtic having the most possession and most touches in the opposition box in the Premiership this season, three teams have had more shots on target.
Hearts, Dundee United, Hibernian, Kilmarnock, Livingston and Motherwell.
Those are the six teams to have scored more Scottish Premiership goals than Celtic by the end of September in the 2025-26 season.
A worrying statistic? Maybe not too much at this early stage, but it is a stark contrast in comparison to their numbers at this time last year.
After six league matches last season, Brendan Rodgers' side were on 20 goals. This term, they are on eight.
Saturday's goalless draw with Hibs, which resulted in the reigning champions dropping to second in the table behind leaders Hearts, already marked the fourth time they have failed to score in a game this campaign.
Across all competitions in the entirety of last term, that happened just five times.
Despite Celtic having the most possession and most touches in the opposition box in the Premiership this season, three teams have had more shots on target.
And Celtic's shooting accuracy of 43% is the second worst in the division.
Rodgers is still trying to find his favoured forward line following the arrivals of Michel-Ange Balikwisha, Sebastian Tounekti and Kelechi Iheanacho, while last campaign's standout performer Daizen Maeda has struggled for form.
Aside from Benjamin Nygren, a summer recruit who has mostly played from midfield this season, no other Celtic player has scored more than once in the league across their six games.
There is also not one forward from Rodgers' squad who features in the Premiership's top 10 for expected goals (xG).
That suggests opportunities are not being created for the attack, despite the Parkhead side failing to score from an xG rating of three in the weekend stalemate with Hibs.
Even though the contest ended in another frustrating goalless draw, Rodgers was "happy" with his team's display but said they "just lacked that killer instinct in the box".
All the evidence from recent campaigns suggests that will eventually come, but Celtic fans will want to see it sooner rather than later with a gruelling winter schedule fast approaching.
Category: General Sports
