Reo Hatate has looked like a totally different player since Brendan Rodgers’ exit.
On his day, Hatate is Celtic’s best player, but for far too long, he hasn’t been able to produce those performances that made him such a fan favourite.
But that changed under Martin O’Neill’s interim spell in charge, and many of the Celtic Park faithful are hoping that it’s a positive sign that the Hatate of old will return under Wilfried Nancy.
However, as Celtic were beaten by Hearts on Sunday, the maestro from Japan was handed a new role, and Jackie McNamara thinks it didn’t go to plan.
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Reo Hatate in Wilfried Nancy’s new system
This is where patience is needed with Nancy, as well as the Celtic players, who clearly need more time to work on the training pitch with their new coach.
But speaking on Sportscene, McNamara noticed Hatate playing further forward in Celtic’s new 3-4-3 system, where the midfielder looked ‘a bit frustrated.’
“Hatate played a slightly different role,” said McNamara. “I thought, at times, he looked a bit frustrated. Maybe he’s up too far and too quickly.
“The space that he normally goes into wasn’t there for him. Credit to Hearts.”
Hatate’s numbers for Celtic this season
There has been talk around Hatate’s future in recent times, but Celtic need to keep him on board until the end of the season, at the very least.
If his performances haven’t improved, then it wouldn’t be a surprise if, not just the club, but the supporters would be happy for him to move on.
At the end of the day, Hatate has written his legend into Celtic. He’s proven everything he can on the domestic stage, and it’s always good to refresh the squad, especially one that can’t stop winning trophies.
- Premiership games: 13
- Goals: 1
- Assists: 2
- WhoScored rating: 6.78
- Europa League games: 5
- Goals: 2
- Assists: 1
- WhoScored rating: 6.56
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