Rodgers should lastly ditch Yang & unleash Celtic’s “terrific expertise”

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Final season, Celtic reached the Champions League knockout levels for the primary time in 12 years, agonisingly ousted by Bayern Munich, however now their hopes of Europa League development are already within the steadiness.

After two league section fixtures, Brendan Rodgers‘ aspect have only a solitary level on the board, with Kelechi Iheanacho on the right track throughout a 1-1 draw with Crvena zvezda in Belgrade, earlier than Braga prevailed 2-0 at Parkhead eight days later.

On Thursday evening, Austrian champions Sturm Graz would be the newest guests to Glasgow’s East Finish, recent from beating Rangers 2-1 at Liebenauer Stadium earlier this month.

After this, the Celts’ remaining fixtures at Midtjylland (A), Feyenoord (A), Roma (H), Bologna (A) and Utrecht (H), none of which might be straightforward, underlining the significance of getting their European marketing campaign up and operating in opposition to die Schwoazn.

Brendan-Rodgers-Celtic-Braga

If the Hoops are to assert a primary European win of the season, on the fifth try, Rodgers should make adjustments to his assault.

Why Yang Hyun-jun must be dropped

On Sunday, Celtic suffered their first home defeat of the season, crushed 2-0 by Dundee at Dens Park, each targets coming within the first 45.

hyun-jun-yang-celtic-premiership

Thus, at half-time, a clearly annoyed Rodgers made a double substitution, one which noticed Yang Hyun-jun changed by James Forrest.

The South Korean worldwide registered simply 25 touches and tried zero dribbles, resulting in Chris Sutton, talking throughout Sky Sports activities’ protection on the break, exclaiming “simply get him off”, asserting that he’d supplied completely nothing.

In whole, since arriving from Gangwon FC in July 2023, Yang has scored simply eight targets and collected solely 9 assists in 74 Celtic appearances, his sole strike of this season coming in opposition to Partick Thistle within the League Cup at Firhill.

With star attacker Daizen Maeda nonetheless sidelined, there’s a void to fill within the Celtic ahead line, however Rodgers should look elsewhere and make a change on Thursday evening.

Rodgers should begin Celtic’s “terrific expertise” vs Sturm Graz

As talked about, it was Forrest who changed Yang on the interval at Dens, with Michel-Ange Balikwisha not launched till the sixty fourth minute.

Regardless of restricted minutes, he registered a shot on the right track and collected 20 touches, just one fewer than Iheanacho, who performed the total 90 minutes, displaying glimpses of what he is able to thus far, definitely sufficient to warrant a begin.

balikwisha-celtic-training

Throughout his time at earlier membership Royal Antwerp, Balikwisha scored 30 targets and registered 17 assists in 145 video games, at his finest through the 2023/24 Jupiler Professional League season, his most up-to-date marketing campaign blighted by accidents, because the desk under paperwork.

Balikwisha 2023/24 stats

Stats

Balikwisha

League rank

Targets

7

twenty fifth

Assists

6

thirteenth

Progressive carries

85

tenth

Shot-creating actions

69

thirtieth

Objective-creating actions

10

thirteenth

Large probabilities created

6

fortieth

Key passes

51

twentieth

Correct crosses

33

18th

Stats through FBref & Sofascore

Because the statistics define, Balikwisha is a high-volume dribbler who can also be able to producing end-product, highlighted by the very fact he ranked extremely when it got here to goal-creating actions, key passes and correct crosses within the Belgian top-flight.

Journalist António Mango was definitely impressed, labelling him a “terrific expertise”, whereas former Celtic participant and supervisor Neil Lennon is “trying ahead to seeing” what he can produce, optimistic he may very well be the membership’s subsequent “actually good winger”.

Balikwisha-Celtic

Meantime, upon his arrival in Glasgow, Rodgers described him as a “actually gifted, thrilling participant” who “might be an essential participant for us transferring ahead”, noting that he “can play each side of the pitch”, which makes him further helpful.

So, forward of a pivotal fortnight of fixtures, within the absence of Maeda, Iheanacho would be the first-choice centre-forward, whereas fellow new recruit Sebastian Tounekti has cemented his spot within the beginning lineup, impressing since arriving from Hammarby.

This leaves one place up for grabs and Balikwisha undoubtedly deserves the chance to stake a declare, more likely to get the nod on the appropriate, with Yang and veteran Forrest the choice choices, so the Belgian certainly needs to be within the XI come Thursday’s should win match.

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