Will Celtic’s transfer window activity transform their season?

Celtic are a massive football club and have a great history. They are used to being at the top of their domestic game and challenging Rangers for the SPL title.

However they currently find themselves 10 points behind their city rivals and struggling for form.

Clearout

After their poor start to the season Celtic boss Tony Mowbray decided that the players in his squad were not good enough for the club.

He had to wait until the transfer window opened in January to change that and an extraordinary amount of players went through the Parkhead exit door.

Celtic stalwarts such as Scott McDonald and Stephen McManus left the club. With them went Gary Caldwell, Barry Robson and Daniel Fox. The move has been met with mixed feelings amongst the Celtic fans. It’s a big gamble to basically deconstruct your squad halfway through a season, but Mowbray obviously thought it was necessary to challenge Rangers for the title this season.

Signings

Celtic completed the biggest signing of any Scottish club in recent times by signing Robbie Keane on-loan from Tottenham. His arrival has been greeted with great euphoria by the Hoops fans. He is a great player and has performed at the top level of football both domestically and internationally.

Diomansy Kamara has also arrived on-loan from Fulham and he is a decent player, who will probably prove a success in the SPL. Kamara and Keane both signed on deadline day but a host of other players also arrived in the transfer window.

Dutch defender Jos Hooiveld arrived from AIK, Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yeung arrived from FC Seoul and striker Morten Rasmussen arrived from Brondby. These players are not exactly household names but Tony Mowbray has had to cut his cloth according to the precarious state of the clubs finances.

Baffling

A day after Robbie Keane signed for Celtic they played Kilmarnock at Rugby Park and suffered a 1-0 defeat. Despite Keane and Kamara making their debuts they continued to struggle. When Tony Mowbray had one last throw of the dice, he decided to bring on midfielder Scott Brown at left-back.

It was a bizarre decision considering his side were struggling to break Killie down. Brown just back from injury would have been expected to come on in central midfield and drive his side forward. Instead his talent was wasted as he played in the very unfamiliar role of left-back.

Another strange decision was for Brown to take the captain’s armband from Glenn Loovens, who was captain for the night. It was a bad night all round for a Celtic side that need a victory to close the gap on top of the table Rangers.

Creativity

Celtic’s problem was that their two central midfielders struggled to support their strikers. Landry N’Guemo and Ki Sung-Yeung are both decent footballers from what I have seen of them. However I don’t think either are attacking midfielders willing to make a run into the box.

I have to say I have been impressed with Ki. He looks like a neat and tidy footballer. N’Guemo looks like your typical strong, defensive anchor midfielder. Both do a good job but maybe one or the other should play in the side with a more attack minded midfielder alongside them.

Maybe when Tony Mowbray has finished playing Scott Brown at left-back, Brown could be moved back into his more favoured central midfield role. He offers a more attacking edge than the other two midfielders and is willing to get into the box to aid his strikers.

Aiden McGeady is probably the most creative player in the Celtic team, yet at times he tries too hard. He tries to take on two many players and loses possession far too often. He has good feet and is capable of creating chances. He just needs to learn when to take on a player and when to lay the ball off to a teammate.

Title?

The arrival of Keane has slightly masked how badly Celtic have struggled this season. The Celtic fans are pinning their hopes on Keane to help the recovery. However Robbie Keane can only do so much, his teammates need to contribute a lot more.

They have a lot of work to do to catch their rivals and to overturn their 10 point lead. It will prove difficult to achieve. There are still two Old Firm derbies to come this season but on this form Celtic will struggle against Walter Smith’s side. As Depeche Mode once sang nothing’s impossible but I fear for Celtic that this could prove the nothing that is impossible.