Celtic Survives Scare at McDiarmid Park with Mika Baur's Goal
Martin O’Neill left Perth with three points and a furrowed brow.
Celtic’s 100% start to the Scottish Premiership season survived a scare at McDiarmid Park, a sixth win from six sealed by Mika Baur’s first goal for the club. The performance, though, was anything but the ruthless, rolling machine the league table suggests.
This was a Celtic side heavily reworked and visibly disjointed. O’Neill handed a debut to on-loan Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, a first start to midfielder Oliver Sorensen and a rare outing for centre-back Dane Murray. Sebastian Tounekti and Kasper Hogh were also recalled as the veteran manager shuffled his pack ahead of a defining week.
He wanted clarity on his new-look squad as he “juggles” players and positions. What he got instead was more questions.
“I’m not sure what to make of it, really,” he admitted to BBC Sport Scotland after Baur’s second-half strike edged out St Johnstone. Speaking to Sky Sports, he was blunter: “We’re still well short of it.”
Rotation, risk and a restless manager
The timing of such sweeping changes was bold. Celtic stand on the brink of a huge run: a Premier Sports Cup meeting with Rangers on Sunday, the Europa League opener at home to Ferencvaros next Thursday, then Rangers again in the league a week later. Yet O’Neill insisted the trip to Perth was not a free hit, but central to their title defence.
That made his five changes feel even more daring. The biggest shock? Camilo Duran on the bench.
Duran has exploded into life in a Celtic shirt, the livewire Colombian quickly becoming the side’s attacking reference point. Much of the pre-match talk revolved around whether he would partner Hogh up front or be pushed back out wide. Almost nobody factored in him not starting at all.
The game only underlined why that gamble is unlikely to be repeated.
“Our main man only came on in the last 10 or 15 minutes, so it gives you food for thought,” O’Neill said after Celtic failed to build on Baur’s breakthrough despite a late surge.
“[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.”
Duran’s importance is already obvious. O’Neill will be wary of drifting into the same over-reliance Celtic once had on the now-departed Maeda, but every minute he spends off the pitch currently feels like a downgrade.
Hogh starved, service stutters
If Duran is chaos and constant motion, Hogh is something else entirely. A penalty-box predator, a poacher who lives on scraps and service. On this evidence, he will need a lot more of both.
With delivery from wide areas badly lacking, the Dane endured a thankless first half. He touched the ball just twice in the box before the break, often peeling away from defenders only to watch the ball head somewhere else entirely.
O’Neill did not spare his record signing from scrutiny.
“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.”
The problem was not Hogh alone. The absence of Yang Hyun-jun, outstanding at the start of the season, left a gaping hole on the flank. Tounekti, given his chance to impress, never came close to filling it.
The contrast was brutal. Former Scotland international James McFadden, on Sky Sports duty, branded Tounekti’s first-half display 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.”
Time and again in that opening period, Hogh found space, pulled away, demanded the cross. Time and again, it never came.
New faces, same frailties
On paper, Celtic’s rotation made sense: spread the workload before Rangers and Europe, test the depth, find out who can be trusted. In practice, they looked exactly what they were – a team with five changes trying to remember each other’s runs.
St Johnstone, though, were hardly static. They made four changes of their own, including a first start for Joe Cotterill, who forced Johnstone into an excellent save, and a debut for on-loan Hibs midfielder Josh Campbell. They disrupted Celtic’s rhythm, pressed with intent and, for long spells, dragged the champions into a scrap.
Sorensen’s afternoon summed up the uncertainty. Before kick-off, O’Neill admitted he “had no idea” what the midfielder could offer. Ninety minutes later, he might still be wondering. The game seemed to pass Sorensen by, his influence minimal in a midfield that never quite controlled the tempo.
The manager’s bench told its own story. Alongside Duran, Benjamin Nygren – another genuine goal threat – also started among the substitutes. Both were introduced in the final quarter, Nygren replacing Sorensen with over 20 minutes to go, and both added a sharpness Celtic had been missing.
It was a risky call to leave them out. It just about worked. They banked rest, Celtic banked points, and the result column remains pristine.
A perfect record with obvious flaws
“I know the results have been fine, really fine,” O’Neill said, “but when we get players up to speed, that’ll be great. 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.”
Six wins from six suggests Celtic are doing far more than that. The performances, though, tell a more complicated story.
This was a night when the champions were stretched, when the understudies looked exactly that, and when their manager left with both a victory and a headache.
The mammoth week he has been bracing for is now here. Rangers. Ferencvaros. Rangers again. With Duran emerging as indispensable, Hogh searching for rhythm and the supporting cast still under review, the real question is no longer about rotation.
It’s whether Celtic can keep winning while they work out who they really are.
