NEVER mind debating when Celtic will lose a domestic game this season. How about asking when they are going to next lose a goal.

Some 758 minutes of play have come and gone since Kilmarnock scored in a 6-1 drubbing in Glasgow. That's a long time to go without conceding. It’s a telling statistic and one which highlights, if it were needed, just how difficult it is for anyone else domestically to lay a glove on the league leaders.

Isn’t it incredible what happens when you can put together a back-line that actually knows how to defend?

Even when Celtic have been really good down the years, their defence, specifically the centre of the back four, tended to be the weak link.

More trophies would have been won by the club in the 1980s when scoring goals came easy. Keeping them out at the other end proved a tricky task, which costs them league title and cup finals. It became something of a tradition; Celtic winning things by being great going forward and dodgy at the back.

Of course, it’s not always been like that. Neil Lennon got himself as good a partnership the club have enjoyed for many a year when he had Virgil van Dijk, who may be about to move from Southampton for a king’s ransom, and Jason Denayer were in Glasgow. They were also rather helped out by the fact Fraser Forster was behind them.

After the Dutchman and Belgian moved on, Ronny Deila spent last season watching Dedryck Boyata, Efe Ambrose and, sheesh, Tyler Blackett make mistake after mistake. How many goals last time out did Celtic concede from a set-piece? The supporters stopped counting after a dozen.

Brendan Rodgers signed Kolo Toure who brought some stability to the rearguard in the opening months of the campaign, only for two more familiar faces to take-over and establish themselves as a duo which could be as good as Van Dijk and Denayer. This is high praise.

Erik Svitatchenko and Jozo Simunovic are two ball-playing centre-halves who actually enjoy defending. They don’t panic, Sviatchenko in particular is practically horizontal, and you wouldn’t mess with either.

Celtic won a gold watch when Simunovic’s move to Torino fell through because he's now fit and looks every inch the player the club believed they had bought 16 months ago. This pair can defend and play football. There are worse combinations.

“I was reading a lot about the Simunovic-Sviatchenko partnership when he was injured,” said the Dane who strolled through Sunday’s cup final alongside his partner.

“You must say at this stage, if you look at the statistics, it’s quite good with the clean sheets we've had. I think we complement each other really well but there are so many others beyond Jozo and me in the team. Guys behind us who want to play and are pushing us on.

“A good team needs people breathing down your neck. That’s what all the guys are doing. That keeps us really sharp. The clean sheet record is a real source of pride. We don’t want to lose any goals.

“It’s a lot to do with confidence. Every time we walk on the pitch we just know that we are going to be difficult to beat. That’s the most important thing. If the opponent has trouble scoring against you have a great chance of winning. If you have that kind of belief that’s so important.”

Sviatchenko was a Deila signing and might have been a touch worried when that manager moved on and Rodgers came in. He needn’t have been. The Danish international, and this has almost been forgotten, actually played well last season after signing in January and has seriously kicked on.

Rodgers wants his defenders to defend, thankfully that is still a thing, in football, but the Irishman is not interested in the ball being launched forward. If you can’t make a simple pass then you won’t play. Both Sviatchenko and Simunovic are more than capable of this task, the former is something to watch when he strides out of the back to start an attack.

“I wouldn’t say I was concerned about the new gaffer, I was more looking forward to it as I thought he might be able to take me to the next step,” said Sviatchenko, a thoughtful sort who can string a sentence together. “It’s been great for me as I’ve been involved in all the games.

“He and the backroom staff have been a really good thing for me. They’ve been with me in developing the skills I need to be better at. I’m really grateful for that. It’s the small details which have been the key to my improvement. You also need to figure out what your attributes are.

“Then it’s about training every day and finding ways of improving. For instance, I always do video analysis of my games. That’s something that helps me and my team-mates when you go to the next game because then you consciously or unconsciously know what happens.

“I’ve seen progression from a game where I’ve done something that I need to improve on. When I saw the next game I was just doing something that was better.”

It is not great for Scottish football as a whole to have any club so far ahead of the rest but that is the reality of the situation. Aberdeen were poor on Sunday and will reflect on a missed opportunity; however, Celtic sauntered to the club’s 100th trophy because they are so much better.

“We’d spoken before that this was the most important game we’d played as it was a chance to win the first trophy together,” said Sviatchenko. “We’ve been together now for a few months and now we can say we’ve done well. Hopefully it’s just a journey upwards from here now.

“We defended well. Craig (Gordon) is at his best at the moment. We always know he will save us if other teams get a chance but defensively we did well and got another clean sheet.

“I made my debut in this competition when we lost to Ross County so it was so important to me to win on Sunday. I came here to this big club to win things. Last season was the first – winning the league – and now I have the League Cup which is really good.

“It’s always great to be part of history. You always want to be remembered. This is one out of three. We just need to push on to see how good a team we are.”