Celtic Grinds Out Win Over St Johnstone but O’Neill’s Concerns Remain

Celtic took the points. They didn’t take the praise.

A 1-0 win over St Johnstone on Wednesday kept the Hoops moving in the Scottish Premiership, but Martin O’Neill walked away from Celtic Park distinctly underwhelmed by what he had just watched.

His team had the ball, had the chances, had the numbers. They just didn’t have the edge.

Dominance Without Cutting Edge

The stats painted a familiar picture of control. Celtic held 60% of the possession, racked up an expected goals figure of 2.22 against St Johnstone’s 0.77, and fired 15 shots, 9 of them on target.

Yet only one effort found the net.

For a side with Celtic’s attacking talent, that return felt meagre. The performance didn’t convince their manager either, who expected more fluency and ruthlessness from a side that, on paper, should have put the game away long before the final whistle.

One decision in particular framed the night: the omission of Camilo Duran from the starting XI.

The Gamble Without Duran

O’Neill rolled the dice. He left out one of his most influential players, the Colombian forward who has quickly become central to Celtic’s attacking identity.

Duran, signed this summer from Qarabag for €5.5 million, began on the bench and only featured for the final 17 minutes. His absence from the lineup was the talking point before kick-off. It was still the talking point after full-time.

Speaking to Clyde 1 Superscoreboard, O’Neill was brutally honest about the experiment.

He explained that Duran had looked tired in the previous league outing against St Mirren and needed a breather. The Colombian had been “class” for Celtic, the manager said, both with the ball and in his relentless work without it. Only Daizen Maeda, O’Neill noted, closes players down more ferociously.

So he wanted to see if Celtic could cope without him.

The answer, as O’Neill put it, was “probably not”.

The message was clear. Celtic might have enough quality to grind out wins, but right now, they don’t look the same side when Duran is not leading the charge.

Duran’s Numbers Tell Their Own Story

You can see why O’Neill thought he could afford to rest him. You can also see why he might be rethinking that.

Duran has matched games with goal contributions this season: 9 matches, 9 direct involvements. Six goals. Three assists. All competitions counted – Premiership, League Cup and Champions League qualifiers.

He has been decisive in recent weeks too. Against Aberdeen on September 2, he scored and set up another. Three days later, against St Mirren on September 5, he added another assist. He played 83 minutes in that St Mirren match, 75 against Aberdeen, and then just 17 in the narrow win over St Johnstone.

The drop-off in Celtic’s attacking sharpness without him was hard to ignore. O’Neill didn’t.

A Brutal September Ahead

There is no time for Celtic to dwell on an unconvincing win. The calendar will not allow it.

Two Old Firm derbies against Rangers loom large in September, and they could define the early shape of the season. First comes the Scottish League Cup quarterfinal on Sunday, September 13. Then, a week later on September 20, the seventh Premiership matchday brings the league showdown.

Between those two clashes, Celtic also open their UEFA Europa League campaign at home to Ferencvaros on September 17.

One key piece will be missing. Yang Hyun-jun will not be available for any of those games, as the South Korean heads off to represent his country at the Asian Games. It strips O’Neill of another attacking option just as the schedule intensifies.

So Celtic move into a pivotal stretch of the season knowing two things: they can win without playing well, and they are a very different animal when Camilo Duran is not on the pitch.

The question now is simple. In a month that could shape their season, can they afford to find out the hard way again?