St Johnstone were taken apart by a relentless and ruthless Celtic side on Saturday.
It was a one-sided contest that highlighted the chasm that exists between a team at the top, which already looks like champions-elect, and a team near the bottom, bereft of confidence.
Courier Sport picks out four talking points from a chastening evening at McDiarmid Park.
Chasing (or not chasing) shadows
The story of a heavy defeat from a St Johnstone perspective wasn’t about the work done through the week on the training ground.
Saints were set-up as well as they could be by Andy Kirk and Alex Cleland given their limitations at centre-back which weren’t sufficiently addressed in the transfer window and in central midfield, where Jason Holt was missing through injury.
“Our game plan was to try and be organised, pass runners on, try and deny them space and opportunities to break us down,” Kirk explained after the game.
The fact that Celtic were kept at a safe distance for over half-an-hour, albeit they scored a disallowed goal on 25 minutes, tells you the preparations and strategy were on point.
That one goal conceded becomes three in the space of 10 minutes highlights (once again) other fragilities.
Many Celtic fans will choose their second of the night as their favourite of the six – it was an 11-pass move, involving nine players.
But the space most, if not all, of those nine were given by their opponents in blue and white was concerning.
And, as shown at a few of the goals, Saints just don’t track or pass on a runner into the box effectively.
It’s far too easy to score against them from crosses.
All too often there’s a drop-off in concentration after they fall behind. Tactical and technical messages get forgotten.
Kirk has spoken well in the aftermath of both matches he’s been in charge of as interim manager.
“Learning from mistakes” was a core theme on Saturday night.
There’s no sign of that happening, however.
Celtic’s brilliance
Thinking back to the ponderous performance the Hoops produced at Parkhead when Steven MacLean’s St Johnstone team earned a 0-0 draw a year ago provides perspective on the transformation Brendan Rodgers has manufactured.
Spending fortunes doesn’t hurt, of course.
This team already looks like a match for the Ange Postecoglou one and it’s going to get even better.
Celtic will likely win the Premiership by double digits and have a genuine shot at Champions League progression.
The Rodgers swagger is back.
Relegation battlers like Saints can’t even dream about emulating the magnificence of their attacking play.
But they can seek to match the manner in which Celtic press and crowd out a player on ball and track runners, whether it’s the first minute or the last.
The returning stars
Nicky Clark couldn’t get on the ball in any meaningful way.
Makenzie Kirk did his best to give his defence some respite and will be all the better for two starts of late but he’s still a rookie, whose predominant role in his first season at McDiarmid will be as an impact sub.
The primary reason there was cautious optimism that this league campaign might be a break from the past was the attacking threat Adama Sidibeh and Benji Kimpioka brought to the team.
Their red cards and suspensions took a hammer to any prospect of post-Rugby Park momentum.
Both will be back at Ibrox, which should give an instant uplift in the side’s ability to get up the pitch and do something productive while they’re there.
You’d like to think Sidibeh and Kimpioka will be highly-motivated to hit the ground running and make amends for their costly losses of discipline.
What next?
Something will have gone seriously awry if St Johnstone don’t have a new manager in the dugout by Sunday.
As was the case for Steve Lomas, it will almost certainly be an Ibrox baptism for Craig Levein’s successor.
Saints fans won’t expect miracles (or points for that matter).
However, they will rightly have hope that the lowest point of the season has been reached and, even though there will likely be some more heavy defeats to come, they’ll be able to see a clear picture of the direction club and team are moving in.
It was Tiernan Lynch’s job to turn down. And turning it down he did. As always felt possible, the Larne boss, who has Europa Conference League football to look forward to, is staying where he is.
The fact that the American owners were willing to back Lynch by allowing him to bring both his assistants – brother, Seamus and Gary Haveron – to Scotland is a good sign.
Even though the deal collapsed over wages, you can see that Adam Webb has a vision for the football team and the need to commit fully to that vision.
The buy-in has to extend to the support Simo Valakari (or whoever lands the head coach job) gets from above.
One of the bonuses of an interview process for owners new to football is that they will surely have been told by every candidate they’ve spoken to that Saints have big gaps to plug in terms of their recruitment operation.
The structure at McDiarmid isn’t fit for purpose.
Addressing that is every bit as important – probably more so – than appointing the right manager.
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