Celtic Get the Three Points, but Questions Remain After Narrow Kilmarnock Win

Celtic got the job done against Kilmarnock, but this was hardly the convincing performance supporters would have wanted after Thursday night’s dramatic victory over Beşiktaş.

A 1-0 win was enough to restore our four-point advantage at the top of the Premiership, with Liam Scales once again proving his importance by finding the net.

However, there were plenty of talking points, particularly surrounding Kasper Høgh, Haissem Hassan and Benjamin Nygren.

Kasper Høgh deserved a goal – and arguably should have had one.

The Danish striker worked tirelessly throughout the afternoon and was unfortunate not to end his frustrating goalscoring drought.

His first-half finish was ruled out following a VAR intervention for Mika Baur’s challenge on Greg Kiltie in the build-up. Personally, I thought it was a very harsh decision, and it was frustrating to see Høgh denied what would have been a much-needed goal.

There were other encouraging moments from the striker. His movement was good, his hold-up play was improved and he continued to put himself in dangerous positions.

He later had another effort saved and came close on a couple of occasions.

Goals are obviously important for a striker, but I thought this was one of Høgh’s better performances in a Celtic shirt. The supporters recognised his effort when he was substituted, and hopefully that backing can help him rediscover his confidence.

Haissem Hassan being left out completely is difficult to understand.

One of the biggest selection questions has to be why Hassan was nowhere to be seen in the matchday squad.

O’Neill has spoken about competition for places, but how does leaving Hassan out fit that argument when Sebastian Tounekti and Luke McCowan were both included?

Hassan has offered Celtic something different this season. His direct running, willingness to take defenders on and ability to create opportunities are qualities we have regularly lacked.

With Jota returning to the starting eleven and Yang also back in the squad, competition is naturally increasing. But surely Hassan deserves to remain involved, particularly when we have struggled to create consistent attacking performances.

It is difficult to understand why a player who can provide natural width and attacking energy has been completely overlooked.

Nygren’s penalty was simply not good enough.

Celtic had the opportunity to put the game beyond Kilmarnock when we were awarded a second-half penalty.

Unfortunately, Benjamin Nygren produced a poor effort that lacked the power and precision required, allowing Nico Mantl to make a comfortable enough save.

At 1-0, we were always leaving ourselves vulnerable to a late equaliser. We had dominated large parts of the second half but failed to take the opportunities to finish the game.

That nearly came back to haunt us in stoppage time when Kilmarnock came close to snatching a point.

Ultimately, three points are three points, and Scales deserves credit for another important contribution.

But there are still questions for O’Neill to answer.

Høgh showed encouraging signs, Hassan’s omission was confusing and Nygren’s penalty was a missed opportunity to make the afternoon much more comfortable.

We are heading into the international break with another victory and a four-point lead at the top.

That is the positive.

However, if Celtic want to maintain that position, we need to start making our dominance count rather than turning comfortable afternoons into nervous finishes.