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

Celtic took the points. They did not win the argument with their manager.

A 1–0 victory over St Johnstone on Wednesday keeps the Hoops moving in the Scottish Premiership, but Martin O’Neill walked away from Celtic Park distinctly underwhelmed by what he had seen from his side.

On paper, it looked routine. Celtic controlled 60% of the ball, racked up an expected goals tally of 2.22 to St Johnstone’s 0.77 and peppered the visitors’ goal with 15 shots, 9 of them on target. In reality, they laboured. One goal, eventually, was enough. It was nowhere near enough for O’Neill.

The manager’s irritation had a clear focal point: his decision to leave Camilo Durán out of the starting XI.

A Gamble on Life Without Durán

The Colombian has been one of Celtic’s revelations this season, but his name was missing when the teams were announced. O’Neill had his reasons. Durán had emptied the tank in the previous games, particularly against St Mirren, and the coaching staff had seen the signs.

“(Camilo) Durán doesn't start for us. He's just been class, and he looked tired in the game against St Mirren,” O’Neill told Clyde 1 Superscoreboard after the match, explaining the call that dominated the post-game conversation.

Durán’s work without the ball has become a pillar of this Celtic side. O’Neill did not hold back in his praise.

“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 last line landed like a challenge in the dressing room. Celtic had won, but their manager had just admitted he expected his team to function better without one of their standout attackers. They didn’t.

Numbers That Tell a Different Story

Durán’s omission looked even stranger when set against his season so far. Nine games, nine goal contributions across the Premiership, League Cup and Champions League qualifiers: six goals and three assists. He has not simply been busy. He has been decisive.

The recent league fixtures underline his influence. Against St Mirren on September 5, he produced an assist in 83 minutes. Three days earlier, against Aberdeen on September 2, he scored and set up another in 75 minutes. When he plays, Celtic carry a sharper edge.

Against St Johnstone, he was reduced to a 17-minute cameo. The contrast was stark. Celtic had already done enough to scrape over the line, but they never found the fluency or ruthlessness that has started to define Durán’s early months in Glasgow.

Signed in the summer from Qarabag for €5.5 million, the Colombian has quickly gone from intriguing addition to near-essential component. O’Neill’s experiment in resting him delivered its own blunt conclusion: this Celtic side, at least for now, does not look the same without him.

Big Tests, Big Absences

The timing of that lesson could hardly be more significant. September offers no soft landings for Celtic.

Next up is Rangers. Twice.

• First comes a Scottish League Cup quarterfinal on Sunday, September 13, a derby with knockout consequences.
• Then, on September 20, the same opponents again in the Premiership’s seventh matchday, with early-season momentum on the line.

Wedged between those two Old Firm clashes sits the opening night of Celtic’s UEFA Europa League campaign, a home tie against Ferencvaros on September 17. Three high-stakes games in eight days. Very little room for off-days, or off-colour performances like the one that so irked O’Neill against St Johnstone.

Complicating matters further, Celtic will be without Yang Hyun-jun for that run. The South Korean winger is heading off to represent his country at the Asian Games, removing another attacking option from O’Neill’s rotation at precisely the moment he needs every weapon available.

So the message from the manager, beneath the frustration and the pointed comments about Durán, is clear. Celtic are winning, but not yet convincing. The margins are about to get thinner, the opponents sharper, the scrutiny harsher.

Durán has already shown he can carry the load in front of goal and out of possession. The question now is whether the rest of this Celtic squad can rise to the standard he has set when the derbies arrive and the season truly starts to bite.