Celtic setting sights on 100 league goals this season
What do you do as a team that has dominated everything in Scottish football this season? If you are Celtic apparently it is find new goals to motivate yourself.
The latest in that case appears to be the Bhoys targeting an unreal number of goals scored in Scottish Premiership action.
According to the Evening Times, Celtic will look to break the 100-goal barrier on the season. At least that is what star goal-scorer Scott Sinclair is pointing towards.
When asked about hitting that mark, which is just 15 goals away from happening after the three-goal tally against Kilmarnock on the weekend, Sinclair was confident that number would fall.
“Yes, I think so,” he said. “We keep creating chances every game and we have got players in the team to score goals as well.
“Even Stu [Armstrong] coming from central midfield, he is adding to the tally. So I think everyone is chipping in with goals as well.
“It is great, it is always nice to get back on the scoresheet and it is great to get back to winning ways.”
15 goals in six matches? Given Celtic’s incredible scoring ability this season that doesn’t seem too lofty a goal, but one that will certainly keep players motivated.
All Celtic would need to do is average 2.5 goals per match to get that done. So far this season they’ve been able to pour in just over that average at 2.7 goals per match.
It is also very fitting that it is Sinclair who is talking about this lofty of a goal. After all, his career has seen a huge resurgence upon his arrival at Paradise. Sinclair has knocked in 23 goals across all competitions this season, just five short of his personal best of 28 goals.
He also has re-gained the love for the game that was apparently gone over the last few years in England.
"“It was just for me to come up here, enjoy, get that love of the game back and I think you can see how much I am taking every game as it comes. If I can keep improving, keep scoring. Every time I step onto the pitch I am trying to do as well as I can. I don’t really have a target but every time I play I want to score and do as well as I can. Twenty seven is my best season at Swansea, I finished off with a hat-trick in the play-off final. It is not impossible, if I can reach that stage then great, but from my position to have 23 I think is not too bad.”"
Personal motivation aside, the 100-goal mark as a club would be just another in a long line of signs of Celtic’s pure domestic dominance this season.
With the Scottish Premiership title and League Cup already in hand, Celtic have just two matches to go for a domestic treble with the Scottish Cup. Add in a run to 100 goals as a club and the season would only become that much more magical.
Should Celtic get to that 100-goal mark, the next target in sight could be the club record for goals in the league in a season. That mark is 116, which has stood since the 1915-16 season.
Of course, that seems a bit unrealistic, as it would require the Hoops to average just a shade over five goals per match over the last six. Given the split and the alleged increase in competition coming Celtic’s way, getting to that club record seems a bit much.
Either way, the end to this season should be entertaining to watch for fans and fun for players to try and reach the next level of goals.