When The Saints Go Marching Back

“He doesn't have a clue! He's got to go,” my father said as Celtic played St Mirren today at Greenhill Road. Perhaps a sentiment shared by many Celtic supporters, but it is undeniable that Deila's team is slowly beginning to pick up the pace.



Celtic went into today's SPFL fixture on the momentum of a 3-0 victory against Hearts in their previous Scottish League Cup clash. And as Guidetti opened the scoring against Hearts he carried that same spirit into the game against St Mirren with a 42 minute nudge of the ball into the net.

But St Mirren would not be content and began to put the pressure on Celtic. After aggressive play up the Bhoy's right, McLean managed to put the ball past Gordon to make an equaliser for the home side. Under pressure to bring a solid result back to Paradise, the team moved into a 4-4-2 offensive. Having Stokes move up front to work with Guidetti assured that the Swede put another ball away, bringing Celtic into the lead again.



Over-all Celtic could be said to have dominated the play, but there was more than the occasional missed-opportunity that the Bhoys failed to capitalise on. Scott Brown's dominating performance in the mid-field helped to bring some solidity to the Celtic side, as the players continue to gel together. But the League Champions sitting in 4th place in the premiership table certainly leaves a sour taste with many. The Celtic team will need to continue picking up results in the near future, or questions about Deila's ability to manage the Glasgow side will persist.

But for now the Celtic support can celebrate this victory and hope that the players will continue to produce winning results.​

CELTIC (4-2-3-1) Gordon; Ambrose, van Dijk, O’Connell, Izaguirre; Brown, Johansen; Wakaso (Bitton 89), McGregor, Stokes (Berget 76); Guidetti (Scepovic 66)
Subs not used: Zaluska, Fisher, Kayal, Tonev.

ST MIRREN (4-5-1) Kello; Naismith, Kelly, McGinn, McLean, Goodwin, Marwood (Caldwell 74), McAusland, Reilly (Morgan 85), Ball, Tesselaar (Wylde 46)
Subs not used: Ridgers, Baird, Brown, Yaqub