John Hartson has given his verdict on swapping successful penalty-kick takers, as he admitted he was left bewildered by the “strange” Celtic decision.
Ange Postecoglou’s move to make Giorgos Giakoumakis the designated penalty-taker has certainly ruffled some feathers. Not least because Josip Juranovic had already bagged 2 goals from 2 spot-kicks during his time in Glasgow.
Giakoumakis missed a vital penalty against Livingston on Saturday that would’ve put Celtic top of the league, albeit for 24 hours at least. The casual nature of the run-up also didn’t help him.
However, speaking on the Go Radio Football Show last night, Hartson offered a defence of Giakoumakis but admitted he couldn’t understand Postecoglou’s decision: “It was a strange decision that Giakoumakis stepped up to hit the penalty, when Juranovic is on the pitch. Normally if you have took a penalty and scored, you take the next one. It’s a strange one because Giakoumakis hasn’t took penalties, he hasn’t had one.
“I’m not sure why they would make that change when Juranovic has an 100 per cent record. When you are a striker, you step up and you think you can slot it away, and all of a sudden it’s two goals in two games.
“They had 16 efforts on goal, and two on target, and those 11 or 12 players had the opportunity to win the game. They couldn’t win the game, so you can’t just lay the blame on Giakoumakis.”
Giorgos Giakoumakis on Celtic penalty duties isn’t ridiculous
The only reason the decision comes across as bizarre is because Juranovic hasn’t missed one. That’s literally it. Nobody can have a pop at the logic in the decision from Postecoglou.
Giakoumakis took 10 penalties for VVV-Venlo last season and only missed 1. 9 were on target, meaning he’s hardly doing a lot wrong. In fact, he can even be deemed clinical when it comes to his spot-kicking duties.
Granted, those efforts last season will have come in front of no fans due to the Covid pandemic. It’s a different matter doing it in front of 60,000 expectant Celtic supporters. But that’s also the pressure he has to live with, and all eyes will be fixated on whether he bounces back strongly.
From Postecoglou’s perspective, however, you can see the logic. Considering how sharp he seemed on penalty duties last season, it made sense. Especially if he wanted to get the striker’s goal tally up. Not to mention scoring it would’ve made him an instant hero.
Again, it simply comes across as strange because Juranovic was looking deadly from the spot. It’ll now be interesting to see whether the Croat becomes the new designated penalty taker once more.
More importantly, here’s hoping Giakoumakis comes back and proves his doubters wrong.
In other news, What Celtic really need in and out the door this January transfer window
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