Adam Idah F. Celtic b.2001

[John83]

Questionable. He's rated 6.1 now. Scales is now 8.5. Didn't think Idah was great yesterday, and didn't think there was anything exceptional in the performance of Scales. Would be nice to know exactly how these ratings are (actually) calculated ...

The scores are determined by algorithms. The inputs to the algorithms are generated by humans essentially annotating games, recording passes, shots, runs, etc. along with outcomes. (Which is, it must be said, a blooming awful job.) There's some potential for bias, but much less than fan ratings. I think I recall some of this described in Kuper's book Soccernomics.

[Razors left peg]

There's a strong case for the most delusional support base in world football.

As a Celtic fan myself I have to agree that there is a fair bit of truth to that at times

[pineapple stu]

It's a very strange league - I can kind of understand how that'd arise. The big games are the ones where you're testing yourself against Barca or Bayern. But those games end in absolute hammerings as often as not, so it's clearly not their level, but I can understand how you'd look up to find your level rather than think it's St Mirren or Ross County (which equally isn't their level)

[Eirambler]

Another blank for Idah at a moment in his Celtic career when it feels like he needed a strong run more than ever.

Early evidence suggests that the opposition looks weak enough this season that they can win the league without a heavy scoring centre forward, but there will be a huge push from fans and the media to sign a replacement for Adam this month nonetheless.

[Razors left peg]

He was poor overall today too. His hold up play wasn't good enough

[Stuttgart88]

I feel for Idah and Scales. On the whole, both players have done well for Celtic, but seem to get hammered by their fans. Idah has never been a prolific striker, but he is a good man to hold the ball up and bring others into it. Rodgers said he was "excellent" yesterday. Scales being statistically the strongest performer on whoscored, yet I saw one comment yesterday from a fan complaining about his performance, suggesting that Trusty "looked so much better when he came on". If he is better, why wasn't he starting?

I thought Scales was very good against St Mirren in both positions. Solid enough yesterday too, one daft lunge and a misplaced pass aside.

I think Idah needs a goal soon. His chest & volley that hit the post against St Mirren would have been the perfect season start - a crucial opening goal in a tight game was just what he needed. I think he did the hard bit well but really should have scored.