Callum McGregor

That is a * ridiculous stat.

 

That's a great video and an amazing stat.The guy has 17 trophies now. I could easily see him on 25 by the time he's finished, same with Jamesy.

 

Callum McGregor on relentless Celtic ‘we never stop’ mantra

THE Ange Postecoglou mantra famously drilled into his Celtic players is that they never stop, and the win over Hearts provided a perfect example of just why that approach is so key to his team’s success


At Celtic Park, even the ballboys and ballgirls have been well drilled at getting the ball back into the hands of a Celtic player as quickly as possible when it leaves the field of play. At Tynecastle on Saturday though, not so much.

A Hearts supporter though played an unwitting part in Celtic’s crucial second goal, heading a Kyle Rowles clearance back towards the pitch – as fans are prone to doing – and straight into the arms of opposition right-back Alastair Johnston.




With Hearts sleeping, he immediately threw it to Jota, who returned it for the Canadian to centre for Kyogo. The forward then produced an impudent backheel to effectively finish the match as a contest on the stroke of half-time with the Hearts defence flat-footed.

“I never noticed that at the time,” said Celtic captain Callum McGregor. “I’ll thank him as well!”

It was that trademark relentlessness though that was to thank for what in the end was a comfortable victory over a Hearts team that were decimated by injuries and lacking in inspiration.

Celtic started like a train, going close in the opening seconds through Reo Hatate, and taking the lead soon after through a brilliantly controlled Aaron Mooy finish.

“We spoke about that,” McGregor said. “Cup ties here are always difficult. Any time you come here, even in the league, the crowd like to get involved in the game.

“We spoke about that beforehand. We wanted to try and take ownership of the game as early as possible.

“Sometimes that doesn’t always happen it right from early on, the first couple of minutes, we really took the game by the scruff of the neck, got control of it, got a goal and we continued to probe right up until half-time when we got the second.




Their defensive rock, Cameron Carter-Vickers, popped up at the other end to nod home a Matt O’Riley free-kick late on to give the scoreline an accurate reflection of Celtic’s domination.

“We just have to try and deal with that [the ball coming back in slowly]”, he said.

“We speak about trying to have the ball in play as much as we’re possibly can. The second goal is a good example of that.

“A minute or so before half-time, the ball goes out, they maybe go to sleep a little bit, we’re sharp, we get the ball back in, and we score the second goal which ultimately gives us comfort in the game.

“We always pride ourselves on small details in the game. If they are trying to stop us, we just try and get the ball back in play as quickly as possible.”

Another facet of this Celtic side that is often overlooked is their physical resilience. At times on Saturday, Hearts attempted to mix it a little to upset their opponent’s rhythm, with Kio in particular putting himself about in the middle of the park.

When the Hearts man flattened Kyogo and then immediately tripped Hatate, it was no surprise to see McGregor respond soon after by laying out Jorge Grant when the opportunity was presented to him, sending a message that his team would not be intimidated.




It’s a cup tie, cup football and it’s a competitive sport,” he said.

“So, of course there are going to be moments in the game where you have to duel and be strong.

“We pride ourselves on that as well. We don’t just want to be a pretty football team and not be strong when it matters.

“I think as a group we’ve shown that in the moments when we’ve had to. Obviously when you win those it gives you a little bit more confidence.

“When you start winning second balls, it takes the edge away from the opponent.

“We do pride ourselves on that as well.”

 

Left out of the Scotland squad because the league is too weak… no he hasn’t because the Scottish manager isn’t a daft *

 

That bhoy once he’s made all his money from Liverpool will 100% take a huge pay cut to pull on the hoops for us. I’m sure of it. How he talks about us still whilst being at Liverpool any chance he gets…he’ll always have wanted to be back here. And I would be all for it

 

By the time we could get him, he’ll not be good enough to anymore I think. Like a Robert Snodgrass situation. Made it clear from the time he was 29/30 he’d love to come, but would still get £10m fees for him, so was not worth it for us as much as it would have been great at the time.

James McClean similar that but I also thi k that’d be because Peter Lawwell would not have touched that situation with a bargepole. Would have loved to see him in his peak at us, basically a much better version of Hayes.

 

Cmon….Andy Robertson is 10 times the player any of those guys are. I can genuinely see him running down a contract in the far future to facilitate a free move here one day. Not saying he’ll be great by that time, but reckon he’s dying to be here some day

 

No thanks
Don't want to be a retirement home

 

Surprised he has reached the 50 cap mark, he always seems to be underused for Scotland

 

Pretty much been a constant starter since 2018. The reality is that Strachan should have brought him in earlier. A problem Scotland has had, tries to use the old players too long rather than building a new set of young players.

 

He is but he’s not immune to the ravages of time

 

Who knows how good he will be in 3 years time and what longevity he will have past that

 

Callum McGregor has chalked up another impressive milestone in his football career with his 50 cap for Scotland.

The Celtic midfielder was named in the starting XI for today’s Euro 2024 qualifier at Hampden against Cyprus, marking a half-century of appearances for his country.

Already this season, the 29-year-old passed 400 appearances for the club and he also lifted his third trophy as Celtic captain when he led the team to a League Cup final victory over Rangers.

He made his first appearance for Scotland back in November 2017 in a friendly match against Netherlands at Pittodrie, while he has also scored two goals for the national team.

Everyone at Celtic congratulates Callum on reaching this impressive milestone of 50 caps for Scotland.

 

Robertson has stated he wants to finish his career at Liverpool.

 

Him taking the ball 70 yards, running past 2 or 3 challenges including bursting past a fresh legged 18yo in Gavi and setting up his teammate in the 95th minute, gave me some amount of pride. What a player