Celtic picked up all three points against St Mirren on Saturday night, running out 3-1 winners in Paisley, but it was far from a polished performance from Brendan Rodgers’s side. There were enough warning signs in that game to give Celtic fans something to chew over, even as they celebrated another league win.
The Hoops went to St Mirren Park as heavy favourites, and they got the result their title ambitions demanded. But the manner of the victory will have raised a few eyebrows. Celtic were sloppy at times, gave the ball away far too cheaply in midfield, and looked genuinely vulnerable on the counter. St Mirren, to their credit, made a proper game of it and their goal was no consolation strike.
For long spells Celtic struggled to control the tempo the way you would expect from a side chasing another title. There was a scrappiness about their play that Rodgers will not have enjoyed watching back. The squad depth question is not going away either. When the first eleven is ticking over, Celtic look as good as anyone in the division. But when the intensity drops or injuries bite, the options coming off the bench do not always inspire confidence.
The goals themselves were well taken and showed exactly what Celtic are capable of when things click. The quality in the final third is not really in doubt. Going forward they have match-winners, players who can unlock any defence in the Premiership on their day. That remains their biggest asset in the title race.
But defending is where the concerns pile up. Celtic were caught out more than once by St Mirren’s direct play, and there were moments of hesitation at the back that a sharper attacking side could have punished more severely. In a tight game against one of the other top sides, those same defensive lapses could prove very costly indeed.
Rodgers has been here before of course. He knows better than most that the Scottish Premiership is not won in October, and that the margins over the course of a long season matter more than any individual performance. A win is a win, and Celtic will take the points without too much complaint.
Still, the squad has a lopsided feel to it right now. There is genuine quality at the top end, real creativity and pace in attacking areas, but the balance across the whole eleven looks off. Midfield has looked stretched on occasions this season, and Saturday was another example of that. When the press gets bypassed and the transitions come quickly, Celtic can look a much more ordinary side than their league position suggests.
St Mirren will feel hard done by to some extent. They gave a decent account of themselves at home and showed that the gap between the top side and the rest is not always as wide as the table makes it look. For the Saints, a 3-1 defeat to Celtic at home is not a disaster, but they will know they had moments to make it more uncomfortable than it ended up being.
For Celtic, the focus now shifts quickly to what is coming next. The Premiership schedule is relentless at this stage of the season, and Rodgers will need more consistent performances if the title is going to end up back at Parkhead. The winning habit is there, the squad has real ability, but Saturday was a reminder that this group is not yet the finished article.
Three points on the road is always a good outcome. But Celtic will need to be better than they were in Paisley when the really big tests come around.