Welcome back, Reo Hatate.
Celtic fans have certainly missed the Hatate of old, but he turned up in style as Martin O’Neill’s side recorded a 2-2 draw at Rangers on Sunday.
Andy Halliday thinks Hatate played his ‘best 45 minutes’ of the campaign, after he has been criticised all season long.
“He picked a great game to play his best 45 minutes for Celtic this season,” said Halliday. “I thought he was the one player who managed to get his foot on the ball for Celtic.”
It can’t be argued that Hatate hasn’t been at it this season, but even Halliday, with his Rangers glasses on, was impressed by the Japan midfielder and his second-half cameo at Ibrox.
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WHAT. A. COMEBACK.
Andy Halliday on Reo Hatate playing his best 45 minutes for Celtic against Rangers
Halliday has constantly stated that, on his day, Hatate is perhaps the best midfielder in Scotland, and even he was purring at the full-time whistle at what he had just seen.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, the Motherwell midfielder explained that Hatate was ‘winning loose balls’ and ‘winning duels’, which is something ‘you don’t really associate’ with the Celtic star’s game.
“There has been so much chat about Reo Hatate, and rightly so, because the drop-off in form to what you have seen from Hatate over the last two or three seasons at Celtic compared to this season has been night and day,” said Halliday.
“But for me, in that 45-minute spell, he was that player who was composed for Celtic. But he was the player who was getting onto loose balls that I felt Raskin and Chukwuani were winning all day long in the first half.
“I do think there was a sense of Rangers trying to hold onto what they got. I don’t think they tried to put Celtic under enough pressure.
“He picked a great game to play his best 45 minutes for Celtic this season. I thought he was the one player who managed to get his foot on the ball for Celtic.
“But something you don’t really associate with Hatate. Winning loose balls. Winning duels. A bit of composure to regain the ball for Celtic.”
Martin O’Neill’s changes are working a treat
Time and time again, O’Neill continues to work his magic and paper over the major cracks that have been visible all season long.
They won’t go away until Celtic have a proper clearout in the summer, but until then, the Hoops are relying on O’Neill’s genius to get over the line.
Halliday wanted to give O’Neill his flowers for constantly working his magic at the half-time break, as he did against the Gers.
“Martin O’Neill deserves a lot of credit,” said Halliday. “He has made in-game changes for Celtic that have changed the dynamic of fixtures.
“You look at Kilmarnock, when he makes the three changes at half-time at 2-0 down, and they come back to win 3-2.
“We expected them to make changes at half-time against Rangers, given how poor Celtic were in the first half. He makes two of them, and the two of them, I thought, were Celtic’s best players on the day.
“Never mind the second half. The full 90 minutes across the board. I thought Tounekti was lively throughout. Anytime he came inside the pitch, he was looking to play penetrating passes. He was combining with his strikers.”
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