CELTIC edged out Aberdeen for the second time in 10 days on Saturday to give John Kennedy a 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 here 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 frontline, 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 that he can improve this team in the coming weeks to have any chance whatsoever of holding on to the top job at Celtic Park.

IS PATRYK KLIMALA GOOD ENOUGH FOR CELTIC?

There is no doubting that Patryk 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 though is whether or not he fits into Celtic’s style of play. John 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 deep-lying backlines, nullifying his stand-out quality.

Maybe the questions being asked then should be aimed at the recruitment department for laying out £3m 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 really 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 or not 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 onto 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 post-match 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 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 hasn’t been addressed to this point, 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 that the Dons aren’t 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 header from a free-kick – the only time they have found the net in that dismal run.

Despite an improved showing after the break here, and despite Florian Kamberi looking bright enough in attack, Derek McInnes’s side still looked blunt in attack and devoid of creativity in open play.

If their goalscoring statistics are a damning indictment of where this Aberdeen side currently are, then so too is the 19-point gap that currently exists between them in fourth place and this struggling Celtic outfit in second.