Can Celtic REALLY win the league without a striker? The remarkable numbers behind the centre-forward strife at Parkhead… and how a Swedish sensation may yet save the day
While a narrow Celtic title win come May could hardly be considered a rarity, the way Martin O’Neill’s side are threatening to claim the league flag for the 56th time is highly unusual.
The Parkhead club are currently feeding to the shredder the old wisdom that any potential championship-winning side must firstly have a dependable goalscoring centre forward.
The statistics surrounding the side’s threat in the final third are simply extraordinary. On the basis that Daizen Maeda is still classed as a winger, the top scoring No 9 across all competitions who’s still in the building is Kelechi Iheanacho.
The Nigerian has three goals to his name, two of which were penalties. Despite O’Neill confirming that he’s available for selection, he’s not featured in the last two matchday squads. You could be forgiven for believing that the manager has written him off.
The top-scoring out-and-out centre forward who’s still on the books? Try Johnny Kenny. Despite moving on loan to Bolton for the second half of the campaign, the Irishman remains top of the charts with six for the term.
Even though he’s out of sight and out of mind in England, Kenny, remarkably, has still scored more than Tomas Cvancara (one goal in nine) and Junior Adamu (one in five).
Kelechi Iheanacho has failed to impress at Celtic and looks to be firmly out of the picture
When Celtic plan their end-of-season awards night, they might need to factor in organising a taxi to get the Sligo man back up from whatever League One ground he’s playing at to collect his prize.
It’s some state of affairs. A club which has prided itself on its prolific centre forwards down the years presently doesn’t have a single one in the division’s top 20 scorers. With five goals, Stuart Findlay, the Hearts defender, has scored more Premiership goals than Kenny’s four.
Never mind the days when O’Neill could choose between Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson. Just over a year ago, Brendan Rodgers had Kyogo Furuhashi and Adam Idah.
The drop-off in quality in such a short space of time has been marked. Come what may over the coming two months, acquiring at least one striker of proven pedigree is a top priority come the close season.
In any other year, a failure by the hierarchy to address this matter would have meant the end of any side’s title challenge.
The fact Celtic are still in the conversation is down in no small part to the incredible contribution of Benjamin Nygren.
Martin O’Neill is somehow keeping his team in the hunt for glory without a traditional No 9
The midfielder has 19 goals to date. Not bad for a player who cost just £1.7million from Nordsjaelland last summer.
That running total already towers over the contribution of any forward this year. For context, Idah managed 20 in his most productive campaign in the hoops before moving to Swansea.
Where would this Celtic team be without the Swede? They certainly wouldn’t have been facing Stuttgart in the play-off round of the Europa League last week. One of his goals came in a 2-1 home win over Sturm Graz with another coming away to Feyenoord.
His impact in the league is even more pronounced. Of the 15 goals he’s scored, five have been decisive in matches.
All told, in netting against Motherwell, Falkirk, Hearts, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen, his side are nine points better off directly through his contribution.
Without Nygren stepping up to the plate, Celtic would be sitting fourth in the table, four points behind Motherwell and eight adrift of Rangers.
Johnny Kenny is Celtic’s leading league striker with four goals… but he’s now on loan at Bolton
O’Neill’s men would be 14 points behind Hearts and needing a miracle. Instead, they are just five off the pace and applying the pressure.
That lead could temporarily be cut to two points if they defeat Motherwell on Saturday week prior to Hearts facing Kilmarnock that evening at Rugby Park.
Wednesday’s victory in the Granite City was in keeping with much of what we’ve seen this season, though.
Even when this team prevails, it’s rarely a comfortable watch for their supporters.
Between Rodgers, O’Neill’s two spells and Wilfried Nancy, Celtic have won 18 of their 29 league matches. Ten of them have been by a single goal. That happened just twice in 38 matches across last season.
O’Neill is getting the job done with little to spare and you suspect that close calls will remain the order of the day.
Despite having been in charge for a total of 23 games now, you sense that the veteran is still finding out about his players on a daily basis.
He admitted as much on Tuesday as he reflected on what went so wrong in the first half at Ibrox and so right in the second period.
Despite scoring a winning goal on his debut against Livingston, it was evident that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain needed longer to assimilate himself with the rough and tumble of Scottish football.
Having been hooked at half-time in the derby, the former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder didn’t leave the bench at Pittodrie. You’d imagine he’ll also be stationed there when Sunday’s Scottish Cup clash at Ibrox gets underway.
Cvancara didn’t get a kick at Ibrox and did little in the 61 minutes he was afforded against the Dons for that to change come the weekend.
Adamu also seems unlikely to be anywhere near it after being an unused sub in midweek on the back of a feeble 45 minute against Rangers.
Benjamin Nygren has been the shining light of Celtic’s season with 19 goals to his name
Tomas Cvancara has one goal to his name so far and failed to impress at Pittodrie in midweek
With Iheanacho seemingly out of the picture, O’Neill’s best bet for the cup game would appear to be playing Maeda as an auxiliary striker.
The Japanese was again poor after being thrown on for the final half hour at Pittodrie, but might still be viewed by O’Neill as the best of the limited options.
The boon for the manager on the night were the performances of Viljami Sinisalo and Benjamin Arthur.
The Finn pulled off a brilliant save to deny Kevin Nisbet at the start of the second half. Even if Kasper Schmeichel is available, Sinisalo is the man on form.
In what was his first professional league start, Arthur was an assured presence after being thrown in when Dane Murray pulled up in the warm-up. Although Auston Trusty’s suspension doesn’t apply to the cup match, O’Neill will have no concerns about the on loan Brentford defender facing Rangers if required.
Having initially been rested at Pittodrie, the inclusion of Nygren from the start can be taken as read. He’s now the difference-maker. Without him, Celtic’s season of unrelenting chaos would already be as good as over.
