Celtic 5 - 1 Dundee United: Celts have Commons touch

EVEN allowing for the absent legions at Dundee United, the transferred David Goodwillie and the stricken Scott Severin chief among them, this was always going to be a stern test of Celtic's mettle, a right old examination of their worth as potential champions.

United are down in numbers, cruelly so, but there is an lan and a spirit in Peter Houston's side that Neil Lennon would have acknowledged. Celtic, though, dealt with the challenge and ran away as thunderously impressive winners.

It helps when you've got goal threat in so many different areas of the field, not just up front where Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes both started and scored, but also out wide where Kris Commons was an utter menace to the United defence with his long-range shooting and his clever little breaks, and also through the middle from where Ki Sung Yueng knocked in a gorgeous third goal, a rasping shot on the run that had Celtic Park in a state of high delirium.

And on the bench, also, from where another goal and two assists came. Celtic could even afford going into the game with the luxury of having Lionel Messi on the bench, or should that be Paddy McCourt. Frankly, given the eulogising of the Northern Ireland winger's performance against the Faroe Islands during the week you could be forgiven for thinking that McCourt was up there with the best in the world. Among the replacements he started, though.

Not that it hampered Celtic.

There was nothing wrong with their effectiveness in attack. Some defensive frailities, for sure, but there's buckets of goals in this team when they hit their stride and they hit it very well at times.

They started at a fair old lick and save for some uncomfortable moments at the back they were totally dominant throughout the day.

Lukasz Zaluska does not impress in goal, but when the things that are happening in front of him are so clinical then he tends to get away with it. Lennon will be thinking about the days when his side aren't so formidable going forward, though. Days when he needs a dependable goalkeeper to keep his team in a match. Hence, the on-going search for a new No.1.

Celtic only took four minutes to start pounding on United's door, a Commons shot causing Dusan Pernis all sorts of issues as he spilled it into Stokes's path. United managed to scramble it to safety, but the respite lasted mere seconds. From Ki's corner, Daniel Majstorovic got his head on the ball (with not much challenge from a United defender, it has to be said), and Stokes prodded in the loose ball.

Soon after, Stokes lashed in a shot from distance that Pernis met with his fists. A nervy beginning for the goalkeeper.

United, though, have character and some quality. Johnny Russell provides a fair degree of it. Russell is a fine talent, a real prospect who is sure to get spirited away from Houston in the near future. Such is the way of things. Houston breaks his neck to build a formidable team and then it gets ripped asunder in weeks when bigger clubs come calling.Russell was put though on Zaluska in the 20th minute, slipped it past the Pole but didn't have enough on his effort to score. A scare for Celtic, though. Followed by another, a Zaluska fumble almost on to the toe of big Jon Daly. And another. This one would bring United's equaliser. It was a simple goal, too. One that would have had Lennon asking questions. Gary Kenneth rolled a ball across the Celtic six-yard box and Russell was there to knock it in. No Kelvin Wilson, who was making his home debut, and Majstorovic. Just a little blonde with a big smile; 1-1.

If United have something about them, then the same can be said of Celtic. Their response was quick and emphatic and, by the end, utterly ruthless. The visitors barely had a chance to bask in the warmth of their leveller when Hooper had put the home side back in front by way of a fairly convoluted goal courtesy of a Charlie Mulgrew cross, an acrobatic Stokes header off the bar and a follow-up from the Englishman.

There was no looking back from that point. No more wobbles, no suggestion that Celtic were going to allow themselves to get drawn into a dogfight.

Commons hit the inside of the United post early in the new half but that was just a taster for what was to come. The third, from Ki, was a belter, beginning with a Commons run from deep, a pass to Hooper and a finish from Ki that was precise and thunderous. The sweetness of the strike was the thing. Pernis didn't have a chance of stopping it.

There were little moments of defiance from United, but nothing more than that. Kenneth had a close-range header that could have gone in, but didn't, and the longer it went on the certainty grew that if there was another goal in this match then it was going to come from Celtic. Sure enough, it did.

Shaun Maloney was on the field by now - soon to be followed to deafening roars by McCourt - and it was Maloney who engineered the fourth with a break to the byline and a ball into Joe Ledley. The Welshman is not the most prolific of scorers but when a chance presents itself from that kind of range he doesn't miss.

Nor do Celtic tend to take the foot off the gas on such days. Another little trickster, James Forrest, was brought off the bench and he tapped in the fifth following more good work by Maloney. Emphatic and formidable. United were hit by something very powerful here.