Celtic fans seemed happy enough the other night as their team was demolishing Dundee.
Jota was back in full flow like he’d never been away, Adam Idah was bang in form and back in the goals and Daizen Maeda was doing his best Henrik Larsson impression. It was like the supporters had forgotten all about Kyogo and his departure for Rennes. That’s fair enough – but I can’t help but feel the failure to replace him is a major disappointment. Listen, Celtic are 13 points clear in the Premiership with 13 games to go. I don’t think it’s done yet but I can see why plenty of people do.
The Scottish Cup is there to be won too and I’m looking at this week’s Bayern Munich game and wondering why Celtic haven’t given themselves the best possible chance of a result? We know they’re up against it. Celtic could have signed a £25million striker and still got battered by Bayern. But that’s not the point. By failing to build from a position of strength, they’ve hampered chances of causing an upset rather than improving them.
And it’s yet another transfer window where fans are left wondering what went wrong. Brendan Rodgers said he knew Kyogo wanted to go for months and he wanted a replacement.
This wasn’t like Moussa Dembele dropping a bombshell on deadline day. Celtic had plenty of time to prepare for his departure. It defies belief they allowed Kyogo to go without having a new man lined up.
Ask yourself, why is Kieran Tierney not at the club right now? He certainly wanted to be, rather than making five minute cameos from the Arsenal bench.
But the reason Celtic will have to wait until the summer is because Arsenal didn’t want to let him go right now and the player had to lump it. Why did that rule not apply at Celtic? If Celtic were not sure of getting a replacement, Kyogo should have been told to hold fire.
I get there was big money involved but it’s not as if money is tight at Parkhead. By letting him leave Celtic completely showed their hand. Clubs knew they badly needed a striker and would be desperate. No wonder the prices shot up. It’s rookie stuff when it comes to negotiations.
As I’ve said before, it was just an unnecessary risk. And now Celtic are going to be sweating on the fitness of Idah until the end of the season – while putting a huge burden on Daizen Maeda.
The latter will be a huge loss for the Bayern game and just underlines how mystifying the window turned out. There are questions to be asked about the recruitment process at Parkhead. Celtic have left it late a few times now and it’s finally caught up with them.
It would be handy to know what football doctor Paul Tisdale brought to the table? It’s not like he unearthed Jota, Tierney or Jeffrey Schlupp – who says he only got a call at 2pm on deadline day. Is the issue chief executive Michael Nicholson getting deals over the line?
Why did Rodgers approve Kyogo’s sale if there were no guarantees over who was coming in? There seems to be an admittance things have not been quite right in that department but no apportioning of blame’s happened.
Either way, it’s left Rodgers short. I know he’s been diplomatic in public, but he surely can’t be happy. In the past this kind of situation might have had him looking to the exit. This time he is talking about getting on with it, but it’s not a great look for the club and there is a tinge of sadness at what might have been going into this Bayern game now.
Rodgers has said before he is a dreamer when it comes to what his side can achieve. I’ve always been the same. You have to aim high.
But you also have to give yourself the best realistic chance, and Celtic haven’t done that. Look, I’m not being negative. There’s a lot to like about the team right now, and they have hit form in recent weeks and they’ve made real progress in Europe. This is now about as tough as it gets. They could have done with Maeda not being banned and Kyogo on board, but that won’t be the case.
They now need everyone available fit and firing – especially Cameron Carter-Vickers. I’ve heard some fans suggesting the American has Champions League-itis, because of the amount of European games he’s missed.
That’s grossly unfair. We know Carter-Vickers has had some injury issues but he’s a guy who constantly plays through the pain barrier. He won’t want to miss this one. I hope he doesn’t, because I tend to get a bit worried when he’s not around for these types of matches.
Carter-Vickers will be vital to cope with his old Spurs teammate Harry Kane, for a start. There’s no doubt the England captain will be the major danger. Everyone knows he’s a lethal finisher, but he’s a clever player who can drop dead and drag defenders all over the place. Kane’s also not shy when it comes to hitting the deck in the penalty area too, something Celtic will need to be mindful about.
It could be a tough night and I didn’t quite see the Villa Park display as tight a contest as some. Celtic did well to get back in the game but it really could have ended up five or six on the night. That’s a worry for the Bayern game but they should perhaps look to Villa’s display when they beat the Germans earlier in the competition.
They were compact and resolute at the back, they sucked Bayern in and then hit them on the break. That might be the way to get a result this week to take to the Allianz Arena for the second leg. But I can’t shake the feeling Celtic have made it an even harder task by failing to deliver in the January window.