Celtic reaction: one cause for concern, famous father in crowd, the Kilmarnock caveat

There was not much for Celtic fans to fret about after the 4-0 win over Kilmarnock on Sunday. Four goals, slick football, a clean sheet, three points, two points more than Rangers – all things considered, it was a perfect start to the campaign on the pitch. However, there was one cause for concern when it came to the Celtic bench with no recognised striker listed among the substitutes. For the cash-rich champions of Scotland to start the new season so under-resourced in a key department is highly peculiar. Had Kyogo Furuhashi suffered an injury either before or during this game then Brendan Rodgers would have been left to convert one of his wingers into an unorthodox number nine. Of course, Daizen Maeda often plays through the middle for Japan, but he was injured. Beyond that, there is no-one with real experience or know-how in the position. Celtic got away with it on Saturday, and were so dominant they would have won with or without Kyogo, but it seems an unnecessary risk to leave themselves so exposed in the centre-forward area for the start of the competitive action. Celtic are notoriously slow and methodical in their transfer dealings – even the pre-agreed loan-to-buy deal with Benfica for Paolo Bernardo took until 48 hours before the new season to finalise. The Adam Idah saga is taking even longer to conclude but as long as Celtic keep winning then fans' patience will just about hold so long as the squad looks stronger by the end of the transfer window.

Kilmarnock caveat

DC United, Man City, Chelsea ... and now Kilmarnock. Celtic scored four goals in the each of their US tour pre-season fixtures and followed it up by hitting the same tally against Derek McInnes' side in their Premiership opener. They could have scored even more - 32 shots were fired at Robby McCrorie's goal on an afternoon where the champions underlined their status as favourites to retain their title for a fourth consecutive season. However, the Kilmarnock manager was quick to point out a caveat to Celtic's dominance, insisting: "It was a good time for Celtic to play us, and a bad time for us to play Celtic," explained McInnes. His point was that Kilmarnock arrived at Celtic Park with a makeshift defence minus injured pair Joe Wright and Corrie Ndaba, as well as the suspended Robbie Deas, while also still feeling the after-effects of a tough European night in Brugge less then 72 hours earlier. "The circumstances in which we came into the game meant it was always going to be difficult," McInnes added. "We don’t want to bleep on too much about that because obviously, it is a fallout from being in Europe. We don’t have the biggest squad as it is, but when you’ve got five starters not in your team, a club like us feels that at times. It was always going to be the most difficult game for us coming back from an away game in Belgium. Cercle Brugge really worked us. They’re a physical team. Our running stats were outrageous from both games. I was always a bit concerned about asking boys to go in again."

Famous father in crowd

Kasper Schmeichel was largely untroubled as he kept a clean sheet on his Celtic Park debut. That will have made for a comfortable afternoon's viewing for his father, Peter, the Manchester United legend, who was spotted in the crowd for the opening day fixture. Schmeichel made only two saves in the whole match – neither of which required a dive – although Matty Kennedy’s first-time volley was powerfully struck and may have caused the former Leicester City stopper some difficulty had it not been straight at him. As it was, he made the save look easy. Tougher tests will come for the 37-year-old and no doubt Schmeichel senior will be making sure he has a ticket for the first Old Firm clash of the season against Rangers on September 1.