“I know, my teammates are all joking about it,” Arne Engels

The Celtic Star

·6 Februari 2025

“I know, my teammates are all joking about it,” Arne Engels

Arne Engels shares his thoughts with the media after Celtic’s 6-0 victory against Dundee. Our brilliant Belgian actually beat Daizen Maeda to the Man of the Match in Sandman’s Definitive Ratings which were published on The Celtic Star in the wee small hours…

Arne Engels of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammate Daizen Maeda of Celtic during the match between Celtic and Dundee at Celtic Park on February 05, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Here’s Sandman’s MOTM review and remember there’s no point arguing about it because his view I always definitive….

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THE TERMINATOR – 8.5/10 MOTM – …Like this one. And THIS is the Engels we paid for and pay to watch: sublime command of a football, spraying passes with such smouldering virtuosity as to make a nun re-think her vows. Scored two, the penalty being a litmus test of temperament and belief; and passed with distinction; near-perfect hit.

But it’s his born footballing swagger that sets him apart – playing in the inside-right slot, ahead of Calmac but just behind Reo; it’s the perfect spot for his ability to shine and give us an extra dimension of presence and guile. Sneaks MOTM for still being the antagonising kid with a mean streak right in the depths of injury-time as he relentlessly noised-up an opponent at their corner; Things I love to see from a young upstart.

If you haven’t read Sandman’s Definitive Ratings from last night you can do so HERE.

Here’s everything that Arne Engels said in the media room at Celtic Park after the 6-0 win over Dundee…

Q: How good a performance was that tonight?

Arne Engels: “Yes, really good from every perspective of the game; attacking-wise, defending-wise, everything went really well for us. And even in the last minute you see everybody sprinting for the next goal or something, so it’s amazing to see the drive of the boys.”

Q: Good quality of goals as well like your second...

Arne Engels: “I’m always trying to shoot, sometimes from distance, I know I have a great shot so I need to do it more sometimes but really pleased to help the team today.”

Q: Is it good to show that it’s not just penalties you can score, there are other facets to your game?

Arne Engels: “I know, my teammates are all joking about it. I don’t want to be the guy that only scores penalties. I’m more than that, so I’m happy to help the team with that today.”

Arne Engels scores the first goal from a penalty kick during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee at Celtic Park on February 05, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Is that something you want to bring into your game more consistently is goals?

Arne Engels: “Yes, 100% but that’s not the most important thing. I just want to help the team win, and if that is with a goal or an assist, then that’s a bonus. But I’m here to win games for Celtic, and that’s, I think, the main goal.”

Q: How much do you see this team growing and evolving even in the short time you have been here?

Arne Engels: “I think a lot. “Defensive-wise, we’ve stepped up a lot already in a few months. We are more stable, I think, than in the beginning. That you see also in the performance, like today. We are really sharp in defence and trying to get that zero. Kasper is always talking about keeping the clean sheet so we are also really happy for him to help him with that.”

Daizen Maeda celebrates scoring Celtic’s third goal with teammates during the match between Celtic and Dundee at Celtic Park on February 05, 2025.(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Is that the warning for every other team that this team can only get better?

Arne Engels: “Yes 100%, in every game we are learning and picking things up, what we need to improve.We have an amazing squad of people wanting to improve every week and every day. I think you see it in our performance, that it’s only getting better and better every time. We are trying to make a machine or something from us. I think we are in a good way. The season is not over, so we are trying to improve every game.”

Q: You talk about Celtic going for goals, even at 6-0 up the team was going for goals. Is that something that is new to you, that kind of drive and determination to keep going?

Arne Engels: “For me personally, I’m always there to grab another goal or something, and to have that mindset, to grab another goal. That’s why I wanted also to come here to Celtic. It’s the mindset of winning and keeping on going, even if it’s 4-0 or something, just to destroy teams. That’s what I really like mentality-wise here, that everybody has the same mindset and the same way of thinking here. I really love it.”

Adam Idah celebrates scoring Celtic’s second goal with Callum McGregor during the match between Celtic and Dundee at Celtic Park on February 05, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: Have you known that from a team point of view before?

Arne Engels: “Yes, in every team you have always the drive to get to another goal or something. Sometimes other teams are maybe pleased with 1-0 or 2-0, and then they want to keep that. But here we are going and going and going, and even destroying ourselves sometimes physically to get another goal. That’s a really bonus thing that we have here as a team.”

Daizen Maeda celebrates scoring Celtic’s third goal during the match between Celtic and Dundee at Celtic Park on February 05, 2025 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: The goals are being shared around so many players. Maeda’s numbers, Nicolas Kuhn’s numbers. There has been so much written about Kyogo leaving but it doesn’t seem to have had any affect. It doesn’t seem to matter?

Arne Engels: “yes, of course Kyogo was an amazing player, everybody knows that. But the people that are here are really stepping up. Like you said the players you mentioned are playing an amazing season but the rest like Ads (Adam Idah), Callum, Reo and other people in the squad are making an impact every game and trying to do some things. So, that’s what we are really good at, that from every position we can do something.”

Daizen Maeda celebrates scoring the third goal with teammate Jota during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee at Celtic Park on February 05, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: What do you think of Jota’s impact since coming back?

Arne Engels: “Yeah really good. Like you see today the cross was amazing for Daizen and he’s really trying to do some things, also in the pressing and in every aspect he is trying to do everything. Since he’s been here he is also training really well so I think that everyone is really pleased with him coming in.”

Q: You’ve got the Scottish Cup at the weekend and they you’ve got Bayern Munich to play. Do you think that you can go and cause Bayern problems as well?

Arne Engels: “I think we can cause every team problems. We showed it already in the Champions League that we can do it against every team. But the next game is in the weekend, so that’s our main focus now. We want to win everything, and that’s why we are really good at this season, to keep on doing every game by itself and not looking forward in the next two weeks or something, just game by game.”

Celtic in the Thirties

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