Aberdeen 1 Celtic 5 may have been a pleasantly open, carefree end-of-season spectacle for the neutral spectator. Not so for the Red Army, to whom it was a doubly worrying experience.
The ease with which the champions repeatedly walked through the Aberdeen defence would have been bad enough at any time – but a team with much still at stake should not be making life this easy for a heavily-changed side with nothing tangible to play for.
That should concern Jimmy Thelin on two fronts.
Immediately, it is a pretty frightening foretaste of what might lie in store at Hampden, when these Celtic players will be augmented by bigger names returning refreshed. On the evidence of recent meetings, logic suggests the cup final conclusion is approaching foregone.
More broadly, does this advertise further problems to come down the line?
The Dons’ defending, as a team, has been a point of debate in recent weeks. Spacious would be a kind description.
To the eye it has looked irresponsibly loose, and a goals against column nearing 60 lends empirical weight to this suspicion.
It is, in part, by design; a tactical and philosophical trick to set the team up to strike when they recover the ball.
And to some extent, moaning about it feels like proving the old adage of fans never being happy – for many’s the manager who has been run out of town for being too safe, defensive and boring.
But when the strategy bears no fruit – instead returning games, as seen lately, when the team is wide open yet manages few to no shots on target – it is legitimate to wonder whether it will ultimately succeed.
Thelin’s second season will be the acid test. Will he seek to address this issue by having his team defend tighter, or needing to defend less?
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