The transfer window is behind us now, thankfully. The squad for the Europa League has been registered, and not without some difficult decisions on ins and outs. Celtic's focus has now turned firmly back to domestic matters for two games.
Saturday’s return to the league came with a short trip to the Marbill Coaches Stadium in Paisley to face St Mirren. The Buddies have been in good form so far, also unbeaten at this early stage. It proved a tough game as was expected and gives Martin O'Neill the need for a rethink.
The 1-2 away win keeps Celtic top of the table. They came back from being 1-0 down at half-time after a St Mirren penalty. The Bhoys had two goals disallowed for offside by the smallest of margins and with imprecise VAR to support. In the end, the score was a fair result. Celtic led the play for most of the match, with St Mirren pushing hard for an equalizer in the latter part of the game.
O'Neill needs to rethink Celtic substitutions
As you might expect there are some key learnings from the match. Especially with the new players involved. The main point for O'Neill is around the substitutions and timing of the changes.
Mika Baur continued to impress with his overall play and neat passing ability. Close, quick touches or longer balls across the pitch are all very much his style. He was substituted again, going off on 73 minutes and replaced by Oliver Sorensen. I’m not clear on the logic of taking off one of the guys running midfield. Even if we had just taken the lead.
Sebastian Tounekti replaced an injured Yang, and James Forrest came on for Haissem Hassan at the same time. The combination of replacements undermined our play. Just at a point where St Mirren started to chase the game. It felt like Celtic handed them the initiative.
Tounketi wasteful again for Celtic
Forrest did fine, Tounekti was pretty ineffective and wasteful, it’s not too harsh to say ‘as usual’ here. Sorensen will take time to settle in. He had some loose touches against Aberdeen and a very hesitant moment in defence on Saturday night. He also played a sublime pass to put Tounekti through in goal. That should have sealed the match with a late third goal. The winger dragged his poor shot wide.
Hassan had a great game. He had the right back at his mercy and regularly played balls into the box, low and near post, pullbacks and crosses. He will improve further and our forwards will maximise those penalty box balls from out wide. Yang Hyundai-jun was again a powerhouse on the left and took the winning goal superbly. Camilo Duran scored another great goal getting the equaliser. But it all took a twist with those substitutions.
Not all the changes raised questions. Shim Mheuka deserves a mention for another brief but highly promising appearance. This lad looks like he will bring plenty of excitement and goals on the pitch. Kasper Hogh may have to fight for his place at this rate. Mheuka had one of the goals chalked off, a superb run through on the keeper and instinctive shot. His time will come, again and again I reckon.
Another win and three points. The new players are beginning to settle in. Undoubtedly O’Neill will be looking at the best combinations and lineups. But that requires a major rethink of the subs approach.
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