Jackie McNamara keeps mentioning the title.
Sure, that’s probably because he keeps getting asked about it, but he may just have easily slipped it in apropos of nothing at some stage, and that’s more than enough to latch onto. Rather than adopting the regulation stance of dismissing the mere mention of the word ‘title’ with all the sheepish false modesty of a cad after a successful night on the town, he was actively using it in sentences after Dundee United’s win over Ross County last weekend.
Putting to one side the astuteness, unwillingness, irrelevance or otherwise of courting such expectations, is there the merest, remotely distinguishable hope that any team could have Celtic’s coattail between a thumb and forefinger by Spring?
Why They Can’t
Celtic are hitting their stride
Sure, we all had tremendous fun guffawing a Celtic’s inability to get results at the start of the season, noting too quite how close and laboured any victories were. But now they look capable of playing with a bit of panache, and don’t look far off doling out some serious hidings. The first half hour at Fir Park last weekend was as free-flowing and quick as they’ve been, and that they didn’t manage to sustain it further only hints at the trouble in store once they’ve fully settled into their new style of play.
What may be more concerning for anyone wishing inconsistency on the champions is that they look galvanised. While plenty may have mocked their enthusiastic celebrations of a last-minute winner at Pittodrie – not to mention Ronnie Deila’s overtly graphic decription of how it made him feel – but it at least spoke to a unified squad who have a clear sense of purpose. Stories of the manager’s dismay at the players’ fitness, or of discord in general, seem a little distant in the past.
The chasers are too flawed
Even if any upturn isn’t forthcoming for the leaders, it would take a monumental effort from one of the chasing pack – and it’s unproven whether any of them are capable of such consistency. Inverness have played some of the most pleasingly attractive football on show in the Premiership at times this season, but it would be astonishing (not to mention highly enjoyable) if they managed to sustain their current run of results.
With apologies for discounting Hamilton, despite their relative current proximity, the other two possibles may boast greater firepower, but are far from complete. United perhaps look better equipped to go the distance, with a greater proliferation of options going forward – but many of whom they’re relying upon are still soaking behind the ears, hardly conducive for consistency. Aberdeen have yet to fully click this campaign, and have something of a soft underbelly.
Saturday’s match at Tannadice may shed a little more light on this; if United record another convincing victory, dare I say it, it might suggest there’s a bit of daylight between two of the more established contenders, and it could represent an upstart breaking away from the peloton.
Strength/depth
It’s the most commonly revisited argument for a reason. Players like Commons and Griffiths, who Deila can rotate or neglect purely for stylistic reasons, are capable of winning matches on their own. And that’s before you get on to the first team – any side could hold their discipline at Celtic Park for 90 minutes, only to be outdone by seconds worth of genuine quality by Johansen or Guidetti.
In terms of depth, Caley Thistle, as their support is probably sick of being reminded, are in a particularly perilous position. They’ve used just 18 players so far, four of whom have played every minute. Sustaining that beyond the new year will be, at the very least, challenging, especially to a side which seems so reliant on it’s close-knit organisation.
Again United seemingly have the edge here, as they’ve been able to rotate their attackers to particularly good effect thanks to their rafts of emerging talent. Cast your mind back twelve months though, and McNamara’s attempts to keep all his scampering legs fresh over the busy Christmas schedule. It was hardly a resounding success. Aberdeen meanwhile, could easily pay for McInnes’ preference to a smaller group of condensed quality, combined with a relative paucity of game-time for youngsters.
Overwhelming precedent
Oh yeah, that’s right, a huge amount of us can’t even recall a world in which a legitimate title challenge from outwith the two biggest clubs in Glasgow existed. Though Celtic are offering more in the way of hope than this stage last year – by which time they were seven points clear – they were only a point ahead after their fifteenth match two seasons ago. Sure, their at that stage chasers were Hibs, but we’re hardly in unchartered waters now. Is there any reason at all that this season should be any different?
Why They Can
There’s never been a better time
Celtic are trying to do a lot this season. Overhauling a team without allowing for a significant let-up in short-term results is tricky even with a substantial advantage in resources. Should the Deila project continue in the long term, it’s possible people will look back at this year as the one where they were most susceptible to lapses. They’ve also got the lingering prospects of Europe and an Old Firm pantomime lingering in the background. Sure, perhaps that’s no different to a normal season, but Deila is probably still growing accustomed to a lot of ‘normal’ aspects of managing the Hoops.
They’re flawed too
Ignore everything written above – this lot are there to be hauled in. For all that they looked effortlessly superior last weekend, a better team than Motherwell could easily have taken something – and that isn’t the only time the Champions have arguably got away with it this season. For all their momentum, each of the last five Premiership victories have come by a single goal. Add into that some pretty underwhelming European displays – against decent opposition, of course – and there’s enough to say they could well be getting into their stride, but they hardly seem untouchable.
There’s more to come from the pack
If the best is still yet to come from the leaders, then there’s a decent argument to be made that it’s also true of those closest to them. Aberdeen in particular look like a team that should dispatch more comfortable wins than they do. The vast majority of their triumphs last year were stuffy singe-goal wins, but the last few weeks especially have hinted they could become a more dauntingly expansive prospect. If they can do that while remaining tight at the back: Taylor is improving, and Anderson is expected back soon.
United too, feel as if they may just be clicking into gear. You also feel that their tremendous counter-attacking could carry them through spells where they aren’t at their best. Furthermore, if they can learn their lessons from last season and pick up that ‘streetwise’ quality McNamara’s looking for, we may have a selection of the strongest challengers to Celtic’s dominance in the last three years.
Conclusion
It probably won’t happen. Upgrade that ‘probably’ to ‘almost certainly’ if you like. But there are enough variables, enough moving parts to at least ask the question.
If we conveniently call ten points the threshold a which Celtic are officially specs on the horizon, then they were gone by mid-December last year, and by late January the season before. It doesn’t seem too daft to think that could be pushed further back this campaign, which sounds like an ambition so modest it hurts, but at least would represent a little, almost tangible hope.
And, frankly, if we aren’t here to kid ourselves every so often, then what are we doing watching football?
WRITTEN BY JOHN CALLAN
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