Celtic secured their place within the semi-finals of the League Cup on Sunday with a implausible 4-0 win over Partick Thistle away from Parkhead at Firhill.
The Hoops strolled to a cushty victory towards the second tier outfit, who haven’t been within the Scottish Premiership in seven years, with 4 totally different goalscorers.
Hyun-jun Yang, Liam Scales, Sebastian Tounekti, and Luke McCowan all bought their names on the scoresheet, and Tounekti was significantly spectacular once more.
The summer time signing from Hammarby caught the attention towards Kilmarnock, creating 4 possibilities (per Sofascore), and performed an necessary position within the first aim towards Partick Thistle together with his cross for Benjamin Nygren, earlier than happening to attain his first aim for the membership.
Brendan Rodgers will hope that the comfy win will present his squad with the arrogance that they should hit the bottom working within the Europa League towards Pink Star Belgrade on Wednesday night time.
One Celtic participant who must step up on the pitch within the coming weeks after a string of unimpressive shows is central midfielder Reo Hatate.
Why Reo Hatate must step up for Celtic
The Japan worldwide put in an honest exhibiting towards Partick Thistle, a Championship outfit, but it surely was not a mesmerising efficiency that made up for a few of his current outings.
Hatate’s type has not been as much as the requirements that he has set himself all through his Celtic profession, significantly together with his shows within the Champions League qualifier clashes towards Kairat.
The Hoops didn’t qualify for the league part of the competitors, shedding on penalties after two 0-0 attracts, and the midfielder’s lack of contributions out and in of possession performed an element in that.
Reo Hatate vs Kairat | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|
Minutes | 90 | 105 |
Photographs heading in the right direction | 1 | 0 |
Move accuracy | 84% | 68% |
Massive possibilities created | 0 | 1 |
Duels gained | 0/8 | 3/15 |
Fouls dedicated | 3 | 4 |
Possession misplaced | 16x | 25x |
Stats by way of Sofascore | ||
As you may see within the desk above, Hatate was far too wasteful with the ball at his ft and weak off the ball, shedding the vast majority of his duels, throughout the 2 matches.
The 27-year-old star additionally failed to attain a aim or create a ‘large probability’ for the group in his final two appearances within the Scottish Premiership for the Hoops, which exhibits that he has struggled in current weeks outdoors of his exhibiting towards a decrease tier opponent.
Hatate scored ten targets, together with the one within the clip above, and created 14 ‘large possibilities’ for his teammates within the Premiership within the 2024/25 marketing campaign, per Sofascore, however he has been unable to ship the identical degree of consistency within the last third this time period.
For this reason the Japan worldwide must step up for the Scottish giants, as a result of he’s able to being an distinctive performer for the membership in the course of the park together with his means on the high finish of the pitch.
If Hatate is unable to recapture the shape that his output final season proved he’s able to, Rodgers should contemplate eradicating him from the beginning XI for a time period.
The emergence of Colby Donovan, who has began the final two matches at right-back, exhibits that the supervisor is prepared to supply academy expertise with an opportunity if they’re able to be thrown in.
With this in thoughts, Rodgers may discover the following model of Donovan, who has been a strong performer within the final two matches together with his defensive reliability and composure in possession, by unleashing Sean McArdle to interchange Hatate within the XI.
Why Sean McArdle may exchange Reo Hatate for Celtic
After all, the supervisor does have club-record signing Arne Engels, who joined for £11m from Augsburg final summer time, Luke McCowan, and Paulo Bernardo additionally at his disposal to pick in midfield.
Nevertheless, the minor success of Donovan, who gained 5 of his 9 duels and had 101 touches (per Sofascore) towards Kilmarnock, may encourage the top coach to look to the academy as soon as once more.
McArdle is just not an entire stranger to first-team soccer at Parkhead. Rodgers rewarded his sturdy type for the B group with two appearances for the senior aspect within the Premiership in the direction of the tip of the 2024/25 marketing campaign.
The 18-year-old star made his first-team debut as a 17-year-old towards Hibernian within the Premiership, taking part in eight minutes off the bench in a 3-1 win.
Because the supervisor mentioned within the clip above, the younger sensation earned his probability via his type for the B group, and it’s all the way down to him to take the following step in his profession.
McArdle, who Rodgers claimed has “bought a wee edge to him”, then performed a second match towards Aberdeen, once more off the bench, and confirmed promising indicators in each outings.
Sean McArdle (Premiership) | Vs Hibernian | Vs Aberdeen |
|---|---|---|
Minutes | 8 | 9 |
Passes accomplished | 8/8 | 11/12 |
Key passes | 0 | 1 |
Dribbles accomplished | 0 | 1 |
Duels gained | 1/2 | 1/1 |
Possession misplaced | 1x | 1x |
Stats by way of Sofascore | ||
As you may see within the desk above, the teenage whiz solely misplaced possession twice in these 17 minutes, plus stoppage time, of soccer, while creating one probability for the aspect.
McArdle’s type at youth group degree for Celtic additionally means that he can present the aim menace that Hatate presents at his greatest, with seven targets in 53 matches, per Transfermarkt.
The Scottish starlet has scored in each of his appearances within the Problem Cup this season, per Sofascore, together with one towards Alloa Athletic earlier this month.
These statistics present that he can present a menace on the high finish of the pitch to associate with his composure in possession, as evidenced by his cross accuracy in his first two first-team outings.
He was not phased by the event towards Hibernian or Aberdeen, exhibiting his class on the ball in each video games, and this means that he has the mentality to take that subsequent step to be Donovan 2.0 this season.
It’s now all the way down to Rodgers to supply McArdle with that chance to impress as soon as once more to see if he can emerge as a real different to Hatate, who has been a shadow of himself of late.
