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Brendan Rodgers had higher hopes of his transfers coming to fruition as Celtic have a challenge “staring them in the face”.
That is the view of BBC pundit Michael Stewart, who believes the Scottish Premiership leaders’ mistakes against Motherwell expose glaring recruitment gaps the club are keen to close. Celtic turned to fringe men David Turnbull and Mikey Johnston to nevertheless break the Parkhead Stale as the latter was brought down and the former made no mistake from twelve yards after fans’ favorite Luis Palma hesitated further beyond Liam Kelly. Rodgers opted for the two-man technique in the second half, but controlled only one point.
And Stewart believes the Irishman, who spoke at this week’s AGM to say he would have the final say on transfers, will have to try to make good on that promise. He believes Oh is not the Kyogo backup he will be, and the absence of key players like Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Alistair Johnston make that clear.
He told BBC Sportsound: “Celtic are missing some key players. Yes, they are not as endemic and fearsome as they were last season. So far, they seem a bit more vulnerable. If you look at the team, they’re missing some important players. players they want to recruit.
“A lot was done at Brendan Rodgers’ Annual General Meeting saying he would have the final say. A lot was done this summer in the projects that were signed, and you can see it. The team without other people like Jota, obviously left, but Hatate is not in the team, Johnston and Maeda are not there, you take them out of the team and they are not as strong, they don’t have the strength in intensity that they had before.
“These narrow margins make all the difference. They’ve won, but they didn’t. When you look at Oh, it’s obviously somewhere where they want to do better. He’s the backup guy when Kyogo rarely shoots much. “All cylinders or want something different. He’s had a lot of chances and doesn’t score enough goals. The difference between him and Giakoumakis is that they look them in the face. “