Celtic's Performance Struggles Despite Perfect Start
Martin O’Neill left Perth with three points and a furrowed brow.
Celtic’s 100% start in the Scottish Premiership rolled on to six wins from six, but this was no swaggering champion’s performance. A heavily rotated side edged past St Johnstone thanks to Mika Baur’s first goal for the club, and little else.
O’Neill shuffled his pack hard. On-loan Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone debuted. Oliver Sorensen was handed his first Celtic start in midfield. Dane Murray got a rare outing at centre-back. Sebastian Tounekti and Kasper Hogh were recalled to the attack.
If the veteran manager hoped for clarity as he “juggles” players and positions, the night offered more questions than answers.
“I’m not sure what to make of it, really,” he admitted to BBC Sport Scotland, while telling Sky Sports, “we’re still well short of it”. The honesty matched the performance.
Rotation, but no rhythm
This was not a dead rubber. Far from it. With a huge week looming – Ferencvaros at home in the Europa League on Thursday, Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup on Sunday, then Rangers again in the league – O’Neill still framed McDiarmid Park as vital to the title defence.
That made his five changes feel even bolder. Riskier. The biggest shock? Camilo Duran on the bench.
Pre-match talk had revolved around how Duran and Hogh might combine. Two strikers together? Or Duran shunted wide again? Few, if any, thought the Colombian would be watching the start from the sidelines.
It is unlikely O’Neill will repeat that experiment in a hurry.
“Our main man only came on in the last 10 or 15 minutes, so it gives you food for thought,” he said after Celtic failed to build on Baur’s second-half strike despite cranking up the pressure.
Duran’s impact this season has been obvious. O’Neill knows it. “[Duran’s] just been class. He looked tired in the game on Saturday, but I’m not surprised for the amount of things he does for us, both with the ball, which is terrific, and also the work that he does off it.
“He’s second only to Daizen Maeda in terms of closing players down. So, I wanted to try and see if we could do without him, and the answer is probably not.”
That last line hung in the Perth air. Celtic have found another diamond, but O’Neill will be wary of slipping into the same dependency they once had on the now departed Maeda.
Hogh starved, Tounekti safe
If Duran is all electricity and relentlessness, Hogh is something else entirely. A penalty-box poacher, he relies on service. On Wednesday night, it simply never came.
With the supply from wide areas badly off-key, the Dane was left isolated. He touched the ball only twice in the box before half-time, a brutal statistic for a record signing supposed to spearhead the attack.
O’Neill did not hang him out to dry, but he nudged the responsibility back on his striker.
“You just can’t put the ball on a plate for people,” he told Sky Sports. “They have to make room for themselves in the penalty box to try and score a goal.”
On the right flank, the absence of Yang Hyun-jun loomed large. The contrast between his early-season sparkle and Tounekti’s tentative display was stark.
James McFadden, on Sky Sports duty, did not sugar-coat it. He labelled Tounekti’s performance and decision-making “safe”.
“He likes to come inside, that’s pretty positive until the last part,” McFadden said. “He’s got a big problem in his starting position, where he receives the ball, he’s always in the eye-line of the defender.
“He’s frustrating to watch because he’s quick and sharp with good feet, but he’s desperate to come inside and never wants to take the risk of going down the outside.”
The pattern became familiar. Hogh peeled off defenders, found space, waited. The ball never arrived. Arms went out, shoulders dropped, frustration grew.
On paper, the changes made sense. In practice, Celtic looked exactly like a side that had made five of them.
Sorensen anonymous, Baur decisive
St Johnstone were not passive extras in the story either. They made four changes of their own, including a first start for Joe Cotterill, who forced Johnstone into a superb save, and a debut for on-loan Hibs midfielder Josh Campbell.
Celtic’s new faces struggled to match that urgency. Pre-match, O’Neill had admitted he “had no idea” what Sorensen could bring. Ninety minutes later, he may still be wondering. The game drifted around the midfielder rather than through him, and he was withdrawn with just over 20 minutes left for Benjamin Nygren, another goal threat held back from the start.
The gamble on leaving both Duran and Nygren on the bench was brave. It was also, just about, justified. They got their rest before the Rangers double-header, and Baur provided the one moment that mattered.
His first goal for Celtic settled a contest that never quite caught fire, even as the champions belatedly raised the tempo after the break.
A perfect record, an imperfect machine
Six wins from six looks pristine on paper. O’Neill is not fooled.
“I know the results have been fine, really fine, but when we get players up to speed, that’ll be great,” he reiterated. “I think that’ll take a few weeks for players. In the meantime, the most important thing is to try and keep your head above water.”
Celtic are doing more than that in the league. They are leading it. Yet nights like this, awkward and disjointed despite victory, expose the work still to come.
The mammoth week ahead will not wait for anyone to find their rhythm.
