A Walking Contradiction. An Achilles Heel.
Kris Doolan had played 349 times for Partick Thistle, and scored a highly commendable 111 goals for the club, without being able to manage one distinction.
Last updated 12th Feb 2018
The striker had never been able to score a goal for his team in any competition that took him to Celtic Park. Until Saturday.
Doolan didn’t so much score as take maximum advantage of chronic defensive play from Celtic’s Jozo Simunovic. Doolan’s duck was broken because Celtic now have a defence which is a walking contradiction.
Celtic have conceded fewer goals than any other side in the Premiership and stay on course to repeat their treble-winning success of last season but the defence remains the biggest source of worry where Thursday night’s Europa League tie against Zenit St. Petersburg is concerned.
Brendan Rodgers’ side inhabit two different worlds at the same time.
Celtic have never lost a domestic match at home in any of the three major competitions since Rodgers arrived at the club eighteen months ago. But, by the same token, they have never won a Champions League tie at Celtic Park over the course of the near two seasons Brendan has been there.
If that statistic is to be re-written then their first foray into the Europa League under Rodgers will be a severe test of a rearguard which has been beset by problems.
The need is to keep Celtic still alive in the tie before the return leg in Russia. The shortcomings are obvious at the same time.
Simunovic does not inspire confidence. Kristofer Ajer is a teenager still learning the position he was not brought to Celtic Park to play.
Dedryk Boyata is injured and unavailable. Transfer window signing Marvin Compper is ineligible for this competition.
And new signing Jack Hendry has had just one game in a Celtic jersey, the league defeat from Kilmarnock at Rugby Park which preceded the Scottish Cup win over Partick Thistle.
Would Rodgers be willing to take a leap of faith and put Hendry into a game at a level he has yet to experience?
Or will Nir Bitton be asked to perform his occasional trick of trying to be a midfield player temporarily deployed as a central defender?
There would have been a time when Mikael Lustig would have been considered for a shift from full back to help fill a hole, but the Swede is clearly having difficulty enough in looking after himself in his more accustomed role at the moment.
Whatever choices Rodgers makes, he can rarely have been left so exposed in one area when the game to be faced carried such heavy demands.
Being in Europe after Christmas represents progress for the Treble winners, but there will now have to be a transformation at the back if the journey is not to be short lived.
It is the consequence of being the foremost side in the country. The higher you climb, the greater the challenges you have to face and overcome.
Celtic haemorrage goals in Europe. The argument goes that this is unavoidable because some of the sides they face have astronomical budgets and Celtic can’t compete with the like of Barcelona or Paris St. Germain, who took a combined total of twelve goals off Celtic in two Champions League group stage games this season.
But Getafe, for instance, got a goal-less draw with Barcelona in a league match at the Nou Camp stadium at the weekend and they can’t be a bigger club than Celtic.
It’s complacency to say certain objectives are beyond clubs purely and simply on the basis of budget.
Zenit can afford to employ the former Manchester City title-winner Roberto Mancini as their manager and doubtless have an eye watering set of accounts. But Celtic Park won’t be full to capacity on Thursday night because the fans believe all resistance is useless against the Russians.
Aberdeen’s annual turn-over and the amount of money they are able to pay in wages and transfer fees will be vastly inferior to what Celtic are able to spend, but Derek McInnes has now been quoted as saying he’ll be disappointed if his side don’t win the Scottish Cup this season.
The Pittodrie side finished runners-up to Celtic in all of the major tournaments last season, and have yet to beat them this season as well, but McInnes must detect a weakness has arisen which could cause a shift in the odds against his side taking the cup in May.
Kilmarnock sensed that same weakness when they beat Celtic in the league at Rugby Park ten days ago.
Rodgers’ side are now approaching a defining period in their season on all levels, with championship games at Pittodrie and Ibrox on the horizon as well as Thursday’s ultimate test of their fortitude in Europe.
Injury has been a periodic, but persistent, source of disadvantage for the manager this season. Now it is a test of his players’ resolve in the face of heightening tension and reduced alternatives where personnel is concerned.
To say they have to dig deep now would be to employ a well-worn cliché. But sometimes the most complicated issues have to be addressed with the simplest of observations.
A walking contradiction now has to stop being an Achilles heel