Celtic continued to march forward towards another Premiership title on Saturday by securing an emphatic win in Dingwall.
Brendan Rodgers refreshed his XI again following Celtic’s win over Dundee United on Wednesday night because of injuries and the simple reason to freshen up his players.
That included Adam Idah and Kyogo Furuhashi playing together, usually, the duo are used to competing with each other for a starting spot.
It worked a treat because the duo put in very strong performances, including Kyogo opening the scoring just before half-time.
Ross County did pull a goal back after the break from the penalty spot, but Celtic continued to push and probe, with Kyogo putting his team back into the lead with ten minutes left.
Before Arne Engels and Luke McCowan helped themselves to goals as Celtic went 18 points clear at the top of the Premiership table.
Watching from the Sky Sports box, even a certain Kris Boyd couldn’t hide his admiration for one player in green and white.
Kris Boyd says Kyogo Furuhashi is ’scary’ to play against after win v Ross County
Kyogo’s new role was rather interesting because it saw him take more touches and showcase more of his quality on the ball.
But once again, you can’t hide away that goalscorer, as his off-the-ball movement resulted in Celtic’s opening goal and Boyd described it as ‘scary’, as he told Sky Sports Football (11/01/25 at 2:45 pm).
The former striker stated that, in the final third, the Japan star is the one who provides something ‘different’ for his team.
“He was a supporting striker to Adam Idah,” said Boyd. “Kyogo plays with a freedom. He is the one with that little bit of different in the final third. He makes a difference and his movement is excellent. We have seen that since he has come.
“Yes, he plays on the shoulder and asks questions. But his movement is unbelievable and Celtic moved out as eventual winners.
“There is a little movement that takes the defender short (for his first goal where he faints to stop but starts running again). The defender moves his body, then doesn’t know where he is. He hasn’t a clue where he is. It’s an unbelievable ball in (from Johnston), but his movement, honestly, it’s scary. It would terrify you as a defender. When you have balls like this coming on from the right-hand side, then you are always getting chances, but his movement is unbelievable.”
Kyogo’s stats for Celtic against Ross County
It’s going to be interesting to see if Rodgers uses Kyogo in a different role – other than centrally – again because it is worth trying.
Especially with Johnny Kenny making his Celtic debut and wanting to stake a claim to be that third striker Rodgers is looking for.
Either way, Kyogo was handed a rating of 8.80 by WhoScored for his performance against Ross County.
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