THE defence presented a compelling case but Neil Lennon requires further evidence before passing judgement.

Celtic are already 10 games into what will turn out to be another marathon campaign.

They are attempting to deliver the domestic success demanded by supporters and aim to inspire those same fans with big performances and eye-catching results on the European stage.

The coming months will see Lennon utilise every member of his squad, with each player given their chance to impress and an opportunity to ensure they retain a hooped jersey for the next fixture on a crowded schedule.

The price of failure could be severe for those that don't make the most of their big break, with plenty of their peers ready to step into the fold.

The losses of Victor Wanyama, Gary Hooper and Kelvin Wilson will undoubtedly weaken the Celtic manager's hand but they have also given him food for thought; those he has recruited this summer also hope that regular first-team football will be on the cards this term.

Being able to field a settled starting XI from week to week and competition to competition would certainly aid Celtic's cause but, such are the options at his disposal, Lennon need not be too rigid in his thinking or his selections.

He has decisions to make right across his team, apart from in goal, where Fraser Forster is all but nailed on as the Hoops' No.1, and two of Lennon's biggest conundrums will come when deliberating who to start directly in front of the English shot-stopper.

The Parkhead boss was shorn of the talents of Charlie Mulgrew for the trip to Tannadice on Saturday due to illness and therefore opted to pair summer recruit Virgil van Dijk with Efe Ambrose, pitching the Dutchman into the fray instead of fellow new Bhoy Steven Mouyokolo.

It was the foreign summer signings that failed to impress in the Champions League defeat in Kazakhstan a fortnight ago but, despite Ambrose and van Dijk sailing through the victory over Dundee United at the weekend, Lennon has not set anything in stone.

"There will be times where injuries and things like that will change things round," the Celtic boss said.

"I have been really pleased with Mouyokolo as well. He has come in as a relative unknown and he has settled in very well.

"There is no doubt that he will play some football as well."

Lennon and the Parkhead faithful are already well aware of Ambrose's talents, and idiosyncrasies, but are still becoming familiar with van Dijk following his summer switch from FC Groningen.

The 22-year-old coped well with everything a speedy, tricky United forward line could conjure up at the weekend and showed he could be a threat at the other end of the field too, firing just over the bar after a mazy run from the back took him into the Arabs area and flashing a long-range volley narrowly wide of target.

It has not been the smoothest of starts to life at Parkhead for the Dutchman but Lennon is confident the signs for the future are promising.

"That is the best he has played for us," he said. "We were pleased with him in pre-season but then he broke his foot.

"I take the blame for bringing him back a little bit early because we wanted him to play over in Kazakhstan.

"He got another 70 minutes last weekend against Inverness Caledonian Thistle and he was fantastic on Saturday. That is the standard now."

The transfer window may have creaked shut in Scotland without Lennon being able to add to his defensive options after a move for Alexander Buttner, the Manchester United left-back, was unable to be pushed through on Saturday night but he did bolster his attacking arsenal before the clock ticked down.

His pursuit of Teemu Pukki was a prolonged but ultimately successful one, the striker coming on board from Schalke to fill the considerable gap left by Hooper's departure to Norwich earlier this summer.

The 23-year-old has big boots to fill as the Englishman's replacement but Lennon is delighted to have the Finnish forward on board.

"There are similarities between Pukki and Hooper," he said. "They are the same size, have the same intelligence in the game and he has got a great first touch and very good movement off the ball as well.

"He has got goals in him. Whether he has got the weight of goals in him that Gary got for us, I don't know. But he will certainly enhance us."

Just hours after Pukki put pen-to-paper on his four-year deal, two men already on the Parkhead books laid down a marker of their intentions at Tannadice.

Lennon re-affirmed his desire to retain goal hero Anthony Stokes in the aftermath of Saturday's victory as the Irishman's contract continues to tick down.

And his satisfaction at seeing the striker curl home a late free-kick to clinch the points was enhanced by the encouraging showing of another of his close-season purchases, burly forward Amido Balde.

"He gives us a different option," Lennon said. "We haven't had a big guy around the place for a while.

"On a day like Saturday when the pitch was 'playing up' if you like, sometimes you need to mix it up and he is a good asset to have in that respect."