Strachan's engine room breakdown

IN THE summer, Gordon Strachan understood that his Celtic team needed a new engine. So off he set, with bundles of dosh, to acquire expensive central components that would allow his side to purr. All too often since, however, his team have spluttered in part because of a misfiring midfield.

In the Nou Camp on Tuesday, £3m close-season capture Massimo Donati performed the footballing equivalent of blowing a gasket. The Italian's toe-curling, hook-earning half in the Catalan capital could well prove the pivotal episode in him going the way of previous marquee signings Thomas Gravesen and Jiri Jarosik. Donati appears not to possess the necessary dig or drive. Meanwhile, the £4.4m showroom buy that is Scott Brown fires on all pistons with precisely these characteristics, but has too often failed to grease the wheels and influence games in a profound fashion.

Brown will be suspended for Celtic's Scottish Cup quarter-final tie away to Aberdeen; an encounter from which Donati may find himself banished for disciplinary reasons of another kind. These absences could open the door for Evander Sno.

One of the real positives Strachan derived from a relatively painless Champions League exit to Barcelona was the re-emergence of the young Dutchman. Sno performed with strength and assurance and, heck, even knocked sensible passes to the feet of team-mates. In short, the 20-year-old proved the antithesis of Donati.

"You learn a lot about yourself as an individual playing against the best players in the world and maybe the best team," Sno said. "You can see how much you have developed, your position in the game. You even learn about the game itself: when to take the pace out of it, when to speed it up. The first half was frustrating to watch because the team knew they could play better. When I came on I just played my own game. I made sure I gave the right passes at the right time."

It is only a matter of months, after nothing came off for him as Celtic were eliminated by Hearts in the CIS Cup last October, since Sno's stock plummeted to the subterranean level Donati's now occupies. Celtic haven't exactly had midfielders whose form can be plotted exponentially. In this department, they have had players who tended to play their way out of the team rather than in it. Barry Robson or Paul Hartley may be asked to partner the Dutchman in central midfield this afternoon as much as anything because Strachan might as well give all his options a whirl. Yet, while he has pretty much stuck by what he thinks are his best strikeforce and best defence, he maintains has not chopped and changed in the centre of the park because he has yet to determine his best pairing.

"Sami (Georgios Samaras] is making it hard for me with the strikeforce and remember the back four was all over the place with no right backs and Gary Caldwell in there," Strachan countered. "But midfield is the place you can jiggle it about a bit. Away and at home there are different sorts of pressures on midfield players. And in the middle of the park sometimes it can be about what the surface is like."

Sno's playing time has been restricted, according to Strachan, because those with whom he is vying for senior slots have acquitted themselves well. Even as Celtic have strung together nine Premier League wins, it has been notable how they have largely relied on wide players Aiden McGeady and Shunsuke Nakamura to create openings and help out the strikers in the scoring stakes. With two goals in only a handful of appearances, Robson has also done his bit. Signed for £1.1m from Dundee United six weeks ago, the midfielder has a knack of producing game-changing moments – as he proved by curling in a free-kick with his first touch for Celtic in the 5-1 victory over Aberdeen.

The 29-year-old may be worth a run in the side. But his instinct to push on makes him similar in style to Brown and his starts in a central role may be therefore restricted to afternoons when the 22-year-old does not feature. Sitting types Sno, Donati and – late convert to deep-lying deployment – Hartley are tasked with offering the protection to allow Brown and Robson free rein.

"Sno did very well in Barcelona," the Celtic manager said. "(His chances have been limited because] the rest of the boys have been playing that well, they have all had good spells. Brown has done well, Massimo Donati has done well at times and Paul Hartley always does a good job when you need him to do a holding job and I thought he did well the other night too."

Sno was "too important for us too let him go on loan" Strachan has claimed. An odd assessment, perhaps, of a player who hasn't started a game in more than four months. But it might be that the Dutchman will have a significant role to play as Celtic chase success in the SPL and Scottish Cup. If he doesn't he could review his contract that expires next summer.

"If you don't play you get frustrated and that is the same for every footballer," Sno said. "I will think about my situation when the time comes. You never know what happens in football. It could be that I get a lot of games now, but maybe I won't. We will just have to see. You have to understand that there are a lot of good players here; a lot of good midfielders."

Strachan's task is making these midfielders good together.

PAST CUP CLASHES

1950 third round: Celtic 0, Aberdeen 1

1951 fourth round: Celtic 3, Aberdeen 0

1965 final: Aberdeen 1, Celtic 2

1967 final: Celtic 2, Aberdeen 0

1970 final: Aberdeen 3, Celtic 1

1973 fifth round: Celtic 0, Aberdeen 0

Replay: Aberdeen 0, Celtic 1

1979 quarter-final: Aberdeen 1, Celtic 1

Replay: Celtic 1, Aberdeen 2

1982 fourth round: Aberdeen 1, Celtic 0

1983 semi-final: Celtic 0, Aberdeen 1

1984 final: Aberdeen 2, Celtic 1 aet

1987 fourth round: Aberdeen 2, Celtic 2

Replay: Celtic 0, Aberdeen 0

Second replay: Celtic 1, Aberdeen 0

1990 final: Aberdeen 0 Celtic 0 (Aberdeen won 9-8 on penalties)

2002 fifth round: Aberdeen 0, Celtic 2