Celtic reaction: Postecoglou’s men eclipse last season’s Rangers in one notable measure already; Giakoumakis now nearing Furuhashi strike rate; dizzying derby scheduling

Celtic’s ability to see off all-comers in the domestic scene for the past six months has taken them to giddy heights.

Postecoglou’s men eclipse last-season’s Rangers in one measure already

It is easy to become blase about adding a digit to Celtic’s domestic unbeaten run each time they play. But in that tally now standing at 30 games following their 3-0 Scottish Cup quarter-final victory away to Dundee United, some serious context and appreciation is demanded. The rarity in a sequence of such longevity from a Scottish club is best illustrated by the fact that, even as they enjoyed a title-winning romp last season achieved without a single league loss, Rangers didn’t come close to a domestic unbeaten 30-game run. Their failures in both cups restricted their best such total to 20 games. Indeed, outside of Celtic’s miraculous 2016-17 treble winning campaign that earned the invincibles tag because they didn’t lose any of their 47 domestic games, the current sequence is the best for almost three decades. Not since Rangers strung together 36 domestic games unbeaten - as part of a 44 all competitions sequence as they came within a whisker of the Champions League final - has Celtic’s current six-month renaissance been outstripped.

Giakoumakis now nearing Furuhashi strike-rate

The predatory instincts of Kyogo Furhashi that earned him 16 goals in the opening four month sof the campaign appeared to make the £4.6m summer capture from Kissel Kobe indispensable. Few considered, over his early outings of an injury-interrupted start to his life at Celtic following his £2.5m move from Dutch club VVV-Venlo, that Giorgos Giakoumakis could fill the void. Yet the double by the Greek at Tannadice doesn’t just means he now has struck nine