Celtic supporters deliver verdict on Osaze Urhoghide's debut

By John McGinley

December 10, 2021

Celtic supporters were left impressed with the efforts of Osaze Urhoghide on Thursday night after he helped the Bhoys to a 3-2 win over Real Betis in the UEFA Europa League.

Urhoghide signed for Celtic in the summer from Sheffield Wednesday but he’d been in the wilderness before the Betis encounter. Last night was his debut in competitive action after being involved in pre-season action.

Despite regularly making matchday benches, little was known about the player.

Now we have a sense of what his strengths and weaknesses are after a frantic debut that had its high and low points, for both the team and Urhoghide himself.

Firstly, what was notable was his absolute desire to perform for Celtic. This kid wants to be part of Ange Postecoglou’s team on a regular basis, that much is clear. The effort he put into last night’s 90 minutes was exceptional. That’s what you want to see from young, untested players.

Secondly, there are definitely rough edges to his game. His positioning in particularly was found lacking at points, but that’s probably to be expected given he might not even be a full-back and he was thrown in against top opposition.

Most of all though, what impressed me about Urhoghide was his explosive ability on the ball. On more than one occasion he broke the lines of Betis to provide danger in the final third, whipping in a couple of devilish crosses that the Celtic attack could have capitalised on.

FotMob shows he had a busy night. He won nine of his 14 duels, cleared the ball three times, succeeded in two of four dribbles, won two aerial battles, made an interception and had six ball recoveries. Undoubtedly there’s a way to go but for a debut performance it wasn’t half bad.

Many Celtic fans were in agreement on social media last night, with this lot giving their view on his first Celtic start panned out…

In other news, What Ange Postecoglou told his players in Celtic dressing room after Betis win.