Celtic Edge St Johnstone: O’Neill's Ruthless Verdict

Celtic took the points. They didn’t take the chance to convince their manager.

A 1–0 win over St Johnstone on Wednesday keeps the Hoops moving in the Scottish Premiership, but the performance left Martin O’Neill cold. His side had the ball, the territory, and the numbers. They rarely had the cutting edge.

Celtic saw 60% of the ball and racked up an expected goals tally of 2.22 to St Johnstone’s 0.77. They fired 15 shots, 9 of them on target. One of those finally broke the resistance. One was enough on the scoreboard. It wasn’t enough for O’Neill.

The most striking call came before a ball was kicked. Camilo Durán, the Colombian forward who has quickly become central to Celtic’s attacking identity, started on the bench. For a player who has been involved in a goal in every game he has played this season, it was a bold move.

O’Neill explained it bluntly to Clyde 1 Superscoreboard after the match. Durán, he said, had simply looked tired in the previous outing against St Mirren. The manager wanted to see if his team could cope without him.

“(Camilo) Durán doesn't start for us. He's just been class, and he looked tired in the game against St Mirren. But I'm not surprised for the amount of things that he does for us, both with the ball, which is terrific, and also the work that he does off it,” O’Neill said.

He's not just a finisher. He’s a runner, a presser, a nuisance.

"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 line cut through the post-match pleasantries. A win, yet a warning. To his forwards in particular.

Durán’s numbers underline why the experiment failed to convince. Nine games this season across the Premiership, League Cup and Champions League qualifiers. Six goals. Three assists. Nine direct goal contributions from nine appearances. Every time he plays, he leaves a mark.

The schedule has been heavy. Durán played 83 minutes against St Mirren on 5 September, supplying an assist. Before that, 75 minutes against Aberdeen on 2 September, where he scored and set up another. Against St Johnstone, he was restricted to just 17 minutes off the bench. The contrast was obvious.

Celtic paid around €5.5 million to bring him in from Qarabag in the summer, a fee that already looks like sharp business. What Wednesday underlined is how quickly he has gone from new signing to near-essential.

O’Neill’s side may sit on the right side of the result, but his comments laid bare a deeper concern: when Durán rests, the attack loses its snap. The possession is there. The pressure is there. The ruthlessness isn’t.

And now comes the stretch of September that will define the early shape of Celtic’s season.

Upcoming Matches

Two Old Firm derbies against Rangers loom large. First, the Scottish League Cup quarter-final on Sunday, 13 September. Then, a Premiership clash on 20 September. Sandwiched between those is the Europa League opener at home to Ferencvaros on 17 September.

Celtic will go into that run without Yang Hyun-jun, who heads off to represent South Korea at the Asian Games. One more attacking option gone from O’Neill’s deck at precisely the moment he needs variety and depth.

Durán’s importance, already obvious, is about to be tested under derby floodlights and European scrutiny. Celtic found a way past St Johnstone without ever hitting stride. Against Rangers and in Europe, “probably not” won’t be an acceptable answer.