Chris Sutton names Celtic duo who ‘struggled’ during win over Kilmarnock

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Celtic returned to the top of the Premiership table on Sunday to leapfrog Aberdeen.

It has been a fruitful week for Brendan Rodgers and his players, with everyone associated with the club heading into the international break with a spring in their step.

It all started with Celtic thrashing Aberdeen in the League Cup semi-final, before they put on a masterclass during their Champions League win over RB Leipzig in midweek.

And then, at Rugby Park, Celtic scrapped and fought to a 2-0 win against Kilmarnock, with Callum McGregor and Nicolas Kuhn pushing their side towards three points by scoring on either side of the half.

As you can understand, several changes were made to the XI, with Rodgers refreshing things up across the board.

But, in this sense, it didn’t suit the champions because they didn’t have that control in the match they are usually used to.

Chris Sutton says Adam Idah and Arne Engels ‘struggled’ for Celtic against Kilmarnock

It just proves what bench strength Celtic have when someone like Adam Idah is able to come in and you can rest Kyogo Furuhashi’s legs.

But Chris Sutton feels that the summer arrival endured a ‘difficult afternoon’ against Derek McInnes’ men and he expected that because of his lack of game time.

Idah has played a total of 556 minutes this term in all competitions and Kyogo has played just over one thousand minutes.

Another player, who Sutton feels found life difficult on the Rugby Park surface, was Arne Engles and he was replaced after an hour by Paulo Bernardo, as he told Sky Sports Football (10/11/24 at 4:25 pm).

“A difficult afternoon for Adam Idah,” said Sutton. “It’s difficult when you aren’t starting so many games and he hasn’t done.

“Bernardo for Engels, who has struggled on this surface.”

Celtic’s upcoming fixtures

It’s international break time and you could argue that it has come at the right time for the Bhoys because it allows the dust to settle again.

When the players return, some huge fixtures are coming up, including the League Cup final showdown against Rangers.

In the short term, the focus will be on trying to push away from Aberdeen in the Premiership and Celtic hoping to for success in the Champions League.

In the middle of the Celtic’s next five Premiership fixtures, they face Club Brugge on home soil on November 27, including a trip to Croatia to take on Dinamo Zagreb in December.