Celtic moved 16 points clear at the top of the Premiership with a workmanlike victory over Dundee United, on an evening where the most interesting action arguably took place in the stands rather than on the pitch.

All eyes and ears were on the home crowd at a freezing Celtic Park to see how they would respond to manager Brendan Rodgers’ weekend comments, but they reacted largely with humour – and yes, even a little patience – as they stayed with their team during a sticky second half spell.

Daizen Maeda opened the scoring in a first half that Celtic completely dominated, but United put up more a fight after the break, and it took until the 83rd minute for the hosts to put the game to bed through Reo Hatate’s composed finish.

Here are the talking points from Celtic Park…

Maeda makes up for Nicolas Kuhn blow

There may have been some concern from the Celtic support when the teams emerged, and they noticed that the red-hot Kuhn had been replaced in the starting XI by Yang Hyun-jun in a late change to the named side.

No disrespect to the South Korean, but he has yet to really find his feet in a Celtic jersey, and hasn’t shown anything close to the level that Kuhn has produced consistently this season. His pace and trickery would surely be missed against another side who were coming to Glasgow to frustrate.

They needn’t have worried, because on the other wing, they had another man who has consistently stepped up to the plate this term, and Maeda was at it again as he pounced on a loose ball in the area to break the deadlock.

The Japanese was clearly irked at Kuhn’s double against St Mirren pulling him away slightly in their own personal battle, moving back to within one of his teammate with his 15th goal of the season here.

It is a remarkable return from the Celtic wing kings at this stage of the campaign, and an integral reason behind their success.

Green Brigade make their point

The Ultras in Celtic Park’s North Curve were always going to have a little bite back at manager Rodgers after he accused them of being disrespectful to Greg Taylor by singing about Kieran Tierney during the win over St Mirren.

Rather than direct their barbs at their manager though, they responded by dusting off old ditties about the likes of Henrik Larsson, Jota, Tommy Burns, Charlie Mulgrew, Odsonne Edouard and Artur Boruc, presumably to make the point that revering former players doesn’t mean they are disparaging the current crop. Though, that rather ignores the fact that a return for Tierney is perhaps more realistic than seeing their ‘King of Kings’ back in the Hoops.

That being said, he probably could have played here in the opening 45 and not looked out of place against a rotated United side who camped in and just tried to limit the early damage.

As for the rest of the crowd, it was hard for them to give their team too warm a reception when they were freezing their nether regions off, but they made a point of giving Taylor a decent cheer when the teams were read out prior to kick off.

There was also more of a reverential silence than any groaning as they watched their favourites patiently trying to unlock the massed ranks of (what I am reliably informed were) electric purple jerseys strung along the edge of the United area.

Even in the second half as United sensed they had a sniff of getting an equaliser, they stuck with their team, which is sure to have been Rodgers’ aim in making the comments in the first place.

Taylor goes quietly about his business

As for Taylor himself, he dealt with the furore surrounding him this week in his customary understated style, turning in the sort of quietly accomplished performance that is his trademark, and that is perhaps taken for granted by some.

There was a school of thought that with his contract expiring in the summer and speculation mounting over his future that his manager hadn’t done him any favours by increasing the spotlight on him with his comments at the weekend, but if it had added any pressure to his shoulders, you wouldn’t have known it.

He was unflustered, and turned in a six or seven out of 10 with the minimal of fuss. Rather fitting, really, and in-keeping with his Celtic career.

United’s priorities lie elsewhere

It was rather depressing at the interval to reflect upon the fact that the team sitting in third place in the table had rested some of their big hitters like the league’s top scorer, Sam Dalby, for a visit to face the league leaders.

It seemed to signal that manager Jim Goodwin saw this game as something of a write off, while (probably correctly) viewing Saturday’s game against St Mirren as the bigger fixture for his side. Their ultra-defensive approach in the first half was also understandable, but this United team have shown themselves this season to be better than mere cannon fodder.

Mercifully, as the second half got under way, United advanced, and even caused one or two moments of anxiety in the stadium.

Alas, they couldn’t snatch anything from the game, but Goodwin will be satisfied to march onto Paisley with minimal damage done to the goal difference and with some of his main men still fresh in the legs.

Hatate shows glimpse of his quality

With Hatate of late, it seems to be all sugar or all, well, you know what. Here, thankfully, it was the former, as he climbed off the bench to plant a fine side-foot finish high past Sam Walton to finally kill off the visitors.

If he could only show a greater level of consistency, then he would be one of the first names on the teamsheet. Then again, with the quality he undoubtedly possesses, he would also probably not be in Scotland.