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Celtic manager Martin O’Neill is calling for patience as the club tries to bring in “necessary” signings in their bid to chase down Hearts and defend their Scottish Premiership title.
O’Neill kept up his 100% domestic record as Celtic boss this season with a 1-0 win away at Falkirk to stay six points behind the league leaders.
However, the insipid nature of the performance – which yielded just two shots on target – will only increase demand from fans to strengthen the squad.
Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton described the display as “lacklustre” and asked “where has the recruitment plan gone?”
“We’re making progress on things and certainly by the end of the window we should have some players to supplement this squad,” O’Neill told BBC Scotland.
“I thought my time was done here, so I wasn’t expecting to pick up the pieces again and look at players. Just give us a little bit of time, cut me a little bit of slack and we’ll be OK.
“The focus is to try and win some football matches, but the other aspect to it is to add a bit of extra quality to help the players out here.”
Do Celtic need more than a striker?
Much of the discussion about Celtic has centred around the need for a striker, or perhaps two.
Benjamin Nygren scored the winner against Falkirk and, in doing so, became the first Celtic player to reach 10 goals in the league this season.
That is despite the fact the Sweden international has not played as a striker, but in midfield or as a winger. And he has only started 14 of their 22 league games.
Celtic are underperforming their expected goals by 10 this season, have only the fourth best conversion rate and rank second bottom for shooting accuracy.
The champions have scored 39 goals from 22 games – after the same number of matches last season they had netted 61 times.
The stats on their productivity in front of goal are damning.
Last season’s top scorer Daizen Maeda, who has seven Premiership goals this term, did score most of his 33 goals last season from the left wing.
However, former Celtic midfielder John Collins believes an experienced striker could change everything.
“It’s hard playing football without a natural centre forward,” he said on BBC Scotland’s Sportsound. “Someone you can hit and you know it’ll stick.
“If you’re a midfielder you can play one-twos, knowing they can bounce it off you. You can’t do that with Maeda, he likes to run in behind. You can’t link with him.
“He’s up there doing his best, but he’s not a real centre forward for me. A good centre forward can change everything.
“You’re getting half chances, next thing you’re 3-0 up. The chances Celtic do create, if you’ve got a good striker you’re winning comfortably.”
Right-back Julian Araujo has arrived on loan from Bournemouth this month, as Celtic also look to address weaknesses in other areas, amid injuries to some key players too.
Becuase while profligacy has been costly at times this season – especially in the ill-fated Wilfried Nancy eta – it was not their major problem against Falkirk.
They only managed two shots on target and were outplayed in spells by John McGlynn’s side, who hassled in midfield and worked incredibly hard.
As a result, the hosts created the better chances and played some slick football.
Callum McGregor was isolated on the ball in midfield, despite Nygren and Arne Engels starting alongside him.
Collins believes the team also needs another athletic midfielder and a winger too.
“Engels has good games and very average games. Nygren comes in and out of games, and lacks consistency,” the former Celtic assistant said.
“One player who always wants the ball is Callum McGregor. Week in, week out he’s at a level. They’ve got to get more quality in the central area.”
Celtic’s next league game is a critical one away to Hearts, a match that will help define the destiny of the title.
If there are no new faces ready to go by then fans will be furious, never mind the much-loved O’Neill’s call for patience.
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What are the fans saying?
Peter: We were outplayed by a team that were in Championship last season. We need several new players. If O’Neill does not get them he should do what Brendan Rodgers did and walk away.
John: Poor performance. Continually we are told we need signings yet , as with windows recently, we watch for signings every day and so far we have one loan deal. Exasperating when we have a pile of money in the bank.
Alfie: Much much better but Martin knows we need quality players. Still not a solid team.
Davy: I cant believe how bad this Celtic team are. A very painful watch as a fan.
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