A routine victory over Hamilton at Parkhead was the perfect way for Neil Lennon’s men to start their season and the disparity in squad strength was as prevalent as it has ever been.
Extra depth – and quality – has finally been added to the goalkeeping department with the arrival of Vasilios Barkas and Celtic are linked on an almost daily basis with as many as three centre-forwards of varying quality.
Goals have never been a problem and on top of Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie, James Forrest, Mohamed Elyounoussi and Callum McGregor can all be relied upon to contribute with Patryk Klimala looking like the proverbial new signing and Leigh Griffiths finally getting fit, it would appear that normal service has been resumed.
There remains two positions that need to be improved, the middle of the park and the defence. The full-back positions are well covered and Lennon has different options depending on opposition and tactics that he wants to deploy, however, should Scott Brown or Callum McGregor get injured or Kristoffer Ajer or Christopher Jullien face a period on the sidelines, there would be an immediate drop in quality.
This may seem harsh on both Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed who are both highly competent footballers but they match neither the style of play nor the characteristics of their colleagues, additionally Ajer and Brown won’t be around forever so forward planning is essential to maintain the current success levels.
Where is the priority?
Centre-half
Midfield
Missing out on John McGinn remains a sore point as does David Turnbull‘s failed medical, they might not have been direct replacements for Brown but McGregor has already shown that his best football comes when he is deployed in a deeper role orchestrating play – one of the afore mentioned players beside him would be a perfect match and if anything, upgrade the starting XI, Ismaila Soro has a long way to go before he can be trusted to carry the mantle from the skipper.
With Jozo Simunovic and Jack Hendry both departing the club, there needs to be a specialist centre-half added to the squad and the loan market could prove to be a decent option especially near the end of the transfer window, Bitton and Elhamed will do for now but long-term another defender capable of playing out from the back has to be a priority.
There’s no doubt Lennon will be happy with his squad, it has won countless trophies after all, but he has never been a manager to rest on his laurels and it would be more surprising if there aren’t one or two more quality additions which would strengthen his side’s claims as overwhelming favourites to land a tenth successive title.