Klimala may not have quality to cut it for Celtic Welsh hopes Brown plays on after his standout showing
...and other talking points from Parkhead after Kennedy’s first match in charge
and the end of the season, his long-term focus is returning to Celtic to stake his claim for a first-team place.
His fellow countryman, Kris Ajer, who followed a similar path when he headed out to Kilmarnock on loan in the early stages of his Celtic career, has been a source of advice since Hjelde arrived in Glasgow from Trondheim.
It is unlikely the two will play together with Ajer looking increasingly likely to leave Celtic this summer but his style of play is something the teenager has tried to replicate.
“Kristoffer is a very good player and he had the same career path like me too,” he said. “He had played more games by the time that he came to Scotland, but he is someone that I definitely look up to. I like to be on the ball and try to create things too, but my main priority always has to be defending. Getting this experience will hopefully be a benefit when I go back to Celtic.
“I keep in contact with him [Ajer] still. He has been very good to me and he still gets in touch and gives me advice.
“I have spoken to the coaches a few times but it has just been to see how I am getting on.
“First-team football has been different, but I feel like I am keeping up with it. Physically it can be difficult, especially if you are playing against guys at 6 foot 5, but you have to learn to play around that and be a bit more streetwise. That will come.
“This will hopefully put me in a better position to go back there and try to play football at Celtic. That is what my goal is and all the minutes I get here will help me.
“Every game I get just now is a bonus for me. You don’t see a lot of 17-year-olds playing in the Scottish Premier so I am looking to make the most of this experience.”
CELTIC edged out Aberdeen for the second time in 10 days on Saturday to give John Kennedy a 1-0 win in his first match as interim manager. Here are five talking points as Aberdeen failed to find the net once again...
How did John Kennedy fare in his audition?
If the rest of this season is one long job interview for interim manager Kennedy, then he has answered the first question asked of him in fairly solid if unspectacular fashion. The challenge now is for him to use the time he has to put his own stamp on this faltering Celtic side.
There was little discernible difference in terms of formation and tactics, which is perhaps understandable given Neil Lennon only left his post a matter of days before the match, and there was in fact little discernible difference between the performance and outcome from when Lennon led Celtic to a 1-0 win here over Aberdeen 10 days previously.
He did put his own stamp on the front line, handing Patryk Klimala a surprise start in attack, just his fifth for the club.
Other than that though, it was very much “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”, and Kennedy will have to show he can improve this team in the coming weeks to have any chance of holding on to the top job at Celtic Park.
Is Patryk Klimala good enough for Celtic?
There is no doubting that Klimala desperately wants to be a success at Celtic, and he is said to work just as hard behind the scenes to make that happen as he does when he is handed a rare opportunity to impress, as he was here.
The trouble is, while he can’t be faulted for effort, there still appears to be huge question marks over whether he has the level of talent required to cut it at this level.
Perhaps the fairer question is whether he fits into Celtic’s style of play. Kennedy explained that he started against Aberdeen because of his pace, and theoretically he would thrive if he was given balls in behind the opposing defence to utilise his greatest asset.
However, he is often asked to come towards the ball and hold it up playing against deeplying back lines, nullifying his stand-out quality.
Maybe the questions being asked then should be aimed at the recruitment department for laying out £3 million on him in the first place. But perhaps Kennedy has a plan to get the most of out of the young Pole, who has so far failed to justify that outlay.
Does Scott Brown have another season left in the tank?
The Celtic captain seems to have been fielding questions about his imminent retiral for years, and on Saturday he produced one of those performances that must make him think that he still has a fair bit left to offer.
Brown dominated the midfield from start to finish, but was especially key in the second half as he broke up play and stymied Aberdeen as they tried to get a foothold back in the game.
He will no doubt be the first to admit that there have been times this season where the standard of his performances fell far below this level, and he deservedly lost his place in the side to Ismaila Soro in October as he began to look every one of his 35 years.
The question for him after the club offered him a further year on the playing staff is whether he can still contribute to the required level on a consistent enough basis to merit it, or whether his undoubted influence off the field makes the summer an opportune time to move on to the coaching side.
Either way, as his teammates regularly insist, he would be a huge loss to Celtic should he leave the club altogether.
Celtic’s defensive frailties still unaddressed
For all that there is certainly promise in the developing partnership at centre-back between young Stephen Welsh and Kristoffer Ajer, and for all that Kennedy was right to praise Ajer in particular postmatch after a solid display, Celtic’s inability to properly defend set-plays remains a conspicuous weakness.
They were fortunate here that Ash Taylor failed to convert three more than presentable opportunities, with Scott Bain producing a wonderful save from the second of those, tipping over the Aberdeen defender’s free header from close range.
That Kennedy is a former centre-half himself has only puzzled Celtic fans further that such a glaring weakness has not been addressed, and until it is, opposition teams will continue to profit from their lax defending.
Blunt Aberdeen devoid of creative spark
Luckily for Celtic, Aberdeen failed to make the most of the chances they created from set-plays, and it seems the Dons are not really capable of creating opportunities in any other fashion.
They have now failed to score in seven of their last eight matches, with Callum Hendry’s goal against Kilmarnock – a
STEPHEN WELSH has urged Celtic captain Scott Brown to put pen to paper on a new deal to remain at the club, saying that the 35-year-old still has plenty to offer both on the field as a player and off it as a hugely positive influence on the squad.
Brown was perhaps the standout performer in Saturday’s win over Aberdeen, a day on from his revelation that the club are allowing him to decide whether he wants to stay on as a player for another season or move on to their coaching staff in the summer.
Welsh hopes he decides against hanging up his boots just yet, saying that his contribution on the field is underrated even now in the twilight of his playing career.
“Broony is massive for us,” Welsh said. “Massive. He’s our leader and we would miss him a lot if he wasn’t there next season.
“I don’t know what he’s going to do. Personally I would love him to be here as long as possible because he helps me so much.
“He helps every single player in the team as captain and when he’s on the pitch he is brilliant for us.
“We will see what happens but Broony is such an important player for us. Everybody sees what he does on the park, but off the park he is just as big.
“When it comes to the atmosphere in the changing room and bringing everyone together, Broony is at the centre of it. He gets us going, he leads us on the park, he’s always talking to you and he is also a quality player.
“You can’t discount how good a player he still is and he has been such a big help to me over the last few years.
“His intensity in every single training session never drops for a second. Every single day, even if it’s a rest day, he is doing everything he can to prepare in the right way.
“If you look at our training sessions, his stats are still up there as the highest in terms of runs. Broony is always at
the top and he is one of the fittest players in the team.
“He has been brilliant for Celtic for so many years and it goes without saying that we all want him to stay.
“It’s completely up to him. He’s achieved so much for the club and it’s only right that he makes the decision.”
Welsh also talked about the positive influence John Kennedy has had on him since he has come into the first-team picture, and his belief that the interim manager’s experience as a former Celtic centre-half will be beneficial to his own development.
“My first experience of working with him was when I first came to train with the first team, maybe four years ago,” he said. “But he’s been a
big help all the way through from that day and he’s a great coach.
“As a former defender, I know he can help me a lot and he already has. I don’t remember Kendo playing for Celtic. I’m only 21, but my dad has told me a lot about him.
“He said he was a top player and would have done big things, but I know he was unfortunate with injuries. But he’s put all that experience into being a coach now and I think it’s worked out well for him.
“Stephen McManus is also up with the first team and he was my reserves coach. Both of them played central defence for Celtic at a really high level so that’s great for me as a young player.”