Sebastian Tounekti has the ball on the left-hand side of the box, he skips beyond his marker and sees several in Celtic green and white flooding the area.
One of them is Junior Adamu. The striker only arrived on transfer deadline day and was making his first appearance at Parkhead. His impact was devastating.
Deep into injury time, Martin O’Neill’s side were on the verge of exiting the cup at the hands of Dundee but their new boy came up trumps.
It was Adamu who Tounekti decided to feed and the finish was full of class, clipping the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot. It was a stunning piece of invention, it was a magical moment too. Paradise witnessed bedlam.
That said, for O’Neill, there’s plenty to work upon after a day where they were far from their best. One of his chief priorities will be integrating Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain into the squad as soon as possible.
The midfield was arguably one of the biggest problems on Saturday evening.
What the future holds for Celtic’s midfield
No matter the manager, Callum McGregor has been a stalwart in the middle of the park for Celtic. No matter the result too, he is always likely to start.
That said, the colleagues around him need to show something else. Who partners him right now is very much up for debate.
Arne Engels’ long-term future in Glasgow is certainly still uncertain after Nottingham Forest had a plethora of winter bids rejected while the likes of Reo Hatate, Luke McCowan and Paulo Bernardo are not covering themselves in glory.
It wasn’t long ago that Hatate was viewed as the “the best player in Scotland” by the outspoken Chris Sutton but that is far from the case now. Long gone are the days when the Japanese thrived under Ange Postecoglou.
At his best, he was a true box-to-box machine, bursting forward and playing with vigour. He’d contribute regularly in the final third and make the team tick. Now, the central midfielder is very much a shadow of his former self.
One of the midfielder’s biggest problems is his lack of drive. Once upon a time he could unlock a defence but now Hatate is slow in possession and gets caught out too many times.
Against Dundee, there were several occasions in which an opportunity to play a forward pass presented itself but he would not make the pass and simply aimed to play a safe game, turning out and retaining possession.
With that performance in mind, O’Neill needs to get Oxlade-Chamberlain up to speed as swiftly as possible. He’s not played for several months now due to being a free agent but has been training with former club Arsenal so he’s not completely lacking in fitness.
“Best in Scotland” looks finished at Celtic after Oxlade-Chamberlain deal
The arrival of Oxlade-Chamberlain could be bad news for Celtic’s current crop.
The addition of the England international has only been made even more important due to Bernardo’s display alongside Hatate on Saturday.
What’s going wrong for Bernardo at Celtic
With Engels missing from the match day squad this weekend and Oxlade-Chamberlain not signing in time to play, it meant a rare start for Portuguese midfielder Bernardo in the middle of the park.
Unfortunately for the 24-year-old, he showcased precisely why a host of managers haven’t fancied him this term.
Under Brendan Rodgers, he played 82 matches in total but only made one start for the Northern Irishman in the early parts of the campaign. Wilfried Nancy didn’t fancy him much either, playing 164 minutes across four matches.
It’s safe to say O’Neill doesn’t rate him too highly either. Since the Irishman has been back in the Celtic dugout, Bernardo has only played 200 minutes, rarely seen much this season at all.
|
Bernardo under each Celtic manager |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Manager |
Games |
Goal involvements |
|
Brendan Rodgers |
82 |
14 |
|
Wilfried Nancy |
4 |
0 |
|
Martin O’Neill |
8 |
0 |
Indeed, he’s not played a single minute in the Premiership since the 30th December when he played 45 minutes of the 2-0 loss to Motherwell. His performance against Dundee showcased precisely why.
The two teams went into the break level, and when they reappeared after the interval, Bernardo was not on the field. He had been replaced by Benjamin Nygren, which just about summed up how poor he was.
He had what can only be described as an anonymous outing, offering very little in possession when Celtic were looking for an opener and very little out of it too.
While Hatate was also poor and Liam Scales was certainly at fault for the Dundee goal, neither were quite as bad as Bernardo. To be hauled off at half-time really is the telltale sign.
On that evidence, it does beg the question as to why Celtic rejected loan offers for the midfielder to leave in January. He’s clearly not good enough to start regular games and it would be a huge surprise now if he ever started again under O’Neill.
Get the Ox up to speed ASAP and don’t expect Bernardo to be seeing many minutes. If the manager needed any reminding as to why he’s not been getting much play time, then Saturday told him plenty.
Celtic submit offer to sign another bargain star after Oxlade-Chamberlain
The Bhoys have made their move.
