Celtic head to Munich buoyed and rested after 1-0 defeat of Dundee
A weekend shuffle almost became a stumble for Celtic, but they have not forsaken the prospect of taking a significant stride this week towards European football involvement beyond Christmas. In the league game that preceded the recent international break, the Scottish Premiership leaders were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Hibernian, whose manager, Neil Lennon, felt that his former team tended to be leggy after a Champions League trip.
On Saturday, Celtic’s performance against Dundee at Parkhead was again notably short of their best but in this instance, it was the consequence of advance planning for a Champions League expedition. Mindful of the meeting with Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, Brendan Rodgers riffled through his playing pack to make seven changes from the Hibs game but had enough in his hand to come away with a 1-0 win, thanks to an alert strike from Olivier Ntcham on the hour mark.
If Ntcham was the man whose low drive from beyond the edge of the box beat Scott Bain for the winner, it was Dorus de Vries who secured Celtic’s 59th successive unbeaten domestic fixture with a trio of crucial saves in the second half. The Dutch goalkeeper had not made a first team appearance since Celtic’s 6-1 rout of Kilmarnock on Sept 24 last year.
Although he kept his place despite having to pick the ball from his net seven times during a Champions League battering by Barcelona in the Nou Camp, De Vries was beaten by a strike from more than 40 yards by Souleymane Coulibaye in the Kilmarnock game and was replaced by Craig Gordon, who retained the No 1 position until rested on Saturday.
The Dutch keeper had to deal with threats much closer to his line against Dundee, but his spectacular saves from Paul McGowan, Roarie Deacon and Faissal El-Bakhtaoui preserved Celtic’s long undefeated sequence and drew gratifying applause from the crowd, plus enforced appreciation from Dundee's Paul McGowan.
“I couldn’t believe the save De Vries made from me,” said McGowan, “I didn’t catch it great but I put it where I wanted it to go and he just clawed it out. He’s not even been playing, so fair play to him.
“It was definitely a chance missed. I can’t remember the last team going there and having such chances with the run Celtic are on.
“The gaffer wants us to play and I love it. It’s the way to play. Yes, we are going to get caught in possession now and again and you can say it’s a bit iffy at times, but it worked for us at Celtic. They might not have been at full strength, but we gave them a game and they can count themselves lucky to win.”
As for Ntcham, his winner added to the confidence gained from his contribution to Celtic’s 3-0 win over Anderlecht in Brussels, when he started poorly but recovered to set up two of his team’s goals.
The French midfielder praised his colleague, Scott Brown, for cajoling him into improvement. “There have been times when things have not been so good, maybe when I have not felt so comfortable, and he encourages me to keep going,” Ntcham said. That was what it was like against Anderlecht. Does he say it nicely? Well, you know what it’s like on the pitch.”.
Who will win the Champions League?
As Celtic draw breath before heading for Germany on Tuesday, Scotland will embark upon their search for a successor to Gordon Strachan, whose tenure as international manager came to an end on Thursday after four years. Already, however, Sam Allardyce has ruled himself out despite being amongst the early runners in the bookies’ odds.
The former England manager told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme that, despite having Scottish family connections, it was not a position which appealed to him. “At this moment in time I would be very picky and choosy about any potential managerial jobs if I was to go back in, so that makes it very difficult,” the former England manager said.
“You never know what might come up, but if it is something where I could bring a lot of success then I could be interested. It's very tempting but not at this moment in time.
“My parents and sister were all born in Scotland, I have heritage from there. I'm enjoying not being involved at the front end of football at the moment. David Moyes would probably be my choice for the Scotland job.”
Moyes, though, has also distanced himself from the vacant position, saying that his preference would be a return to club management. Malky Mackay, meanwhile, will take charge of Scotland on an interim basis for the visit of the Netherlands to Pittodrie for a friendly on Nov 9.
