I watched Celtic beat Dundee and noted a glaring midfield issue, boycott impact and the gypsy curse
Key takeaways from Celtic’s Scottish Cup win over Dundee
Celtic scraped into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals by the skin of their teeth with a 2-1 extra-time win over Dundee at Parkhead on Saturday.
A 97th minute equaliser from new Celtic signing Junior Adamu prevented the Hoops from being knocked out after Ethan Hamilton put Dundee ahead early in the second half.
Celtic substitute Sebastian Tounekti provided the winning goal in the first-half of extra-time as Martin O’Neill’s men avoided an early exit.
Here are three key takeaways from the match...
Celtic’s midfield issues
Although he was upstaged by another new signing, Junior Adamu, the arrival of Alex Oxlade Chamberlain is a tremendous boost for Celtic. Of course, there wasn't much else the midfielder could do on Saturday night other than come onto the pitch and wave to the fans. He had been signed too late to be included and even Wednesday night’s home clash against Livingston might come too soon.
Martin O’Neill afterwards said that he would be closely watched in training on Monday and Tuesday. Although he hasn’t played in a long while, O’Neill observed that the 32-year-old was not carrying any excess weight. His trimness is perhaps down to recent weeks spent training with former club Arsenal.
Celtic are also looking light in midfield, so Oxlade-Chamberlain’s arrival, while something of a gamble, certainly feels like one worth taking. Reo Hatate is off his game – he looked disinterested against Dundee. Callum McGregor is playing like he needs a rest and Paulo Bernardo—who received a rare start under O’Neill during both of the manager's recent spells—was substituted at half time.
The struggles Celtic had in the middle of the park perhaps illustrated why the club decided to turn down huge bids for Arne Engels from Nottingham Forest last week. He will be needed if Celtic are going to compete on all three fronts, Europe included. That’s presuming his head’s in the right place having seen his move to the English Premier League nixed. Asked why both Engels and Daizen Maeda were missing from the squad on Saturday, O’Neill confirmed they had been rested. “Hmmmm,” he added. “There were moments when I was thinking, ‘not a great decision….’.
Boycott impact
Things were threatening to get very ugly indeed as Dundee inched towards a famous victory. Home fans rose to their feet in front of the directors’ box and were jabbing their angrily fingers towards the incumbents of the front row, including CEO Michael Nicholson and interim chairman Brian Wilson. The latter has promised to make some renewed attempts at making peace with the different factions of Celtic supporters who are clearly so unhappy with the stewardship of the club.
But it was a reminder that those who had resisted calls made by the Celtic Fans Collective to boycott the game did not necessarily do so because they rejected the umbrella group’s demands, including the removal of Nicholson. They did so because they wanted to support the team.
Whether or not the boycott really registered was hard to say – yes there were large areas of empty seats but a Scottish Cup tie against Dundee on a Saturday evening that is being screened live in pubs was hardly going to see the sold out signs going up. At the equivalent round last year, there were 39,000 in for the 5-0 win over Raith Rovers, a good 20,000 below capacity.
No official attendance was given on Saturday evening, which perhaps says it all. But it looked to be just over the 30,000 mark, including around 800 very vocal Dundee supporters. So quite a few thousand down, although many more had left before Adamu’s later than late equaliser. Had these fans boycotted the boycott only to still miss out on a stirring comeback?
Dundee’s gypsy curse
What more is there to say about Dundee and the Scottish Cup? The wait goes on - 1910 never again, they say. And sometimes it does feel as if that old yarn about the gypsy’s curse really is true. A hex is meant to have been put on the club as punishment for having displayed the trophy in the window of a funeral home the one and only time they have won it. Of course, getting through against Celtic would not have guaranteed winning the competition, far from it. With the Parkhead side as well as Hearts and Hibs already out, and one of Aberdeen or Motherwell facing elimination, a potential path would have opened up nicely for the Dens Park side, who are looking a far better outfit in recent weeks under Steven Pressley.
If only they could have held out for a few seconds more. It would surprise no one if Celtic go and win the tournament now. While commentating on radio on Saturday former Celtic ‘keeper Pat Bonner mentioned a third round tie at Parkhead against Stranraer in 1988, when, having gone behind to a Frank McAvennie goal, the lowly visitors missed a penalty – well, it was saved by Bonner, maybe why he brought it up actually – as well as a near open goal late on. Striker Bruce Cleland was the fall-guy on both occasions and he emigrated shortly afterwards to Australia. It was the last game of competitive football he played. Meanwhile Celtic, having survived this scare, went on to win the double...
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