Will Brendan Rodgers give Jonny Hayes a shot after Emilio Izaguirre blunder?

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Jonny Hayes for Emilio Izaguirre is a change to the starting lineup that many fans may want to hear today.

After all, the latter was a huge part to blame for why Celtic lost so easily to Valencia on Thursday night. He may not have been the only one, but he had a massive hand in both goals scored by the La Liga giants.

We decided to select him in our predicted XI ahead of today’s clash with Kilmarnock. But it seems that many fans have had enough of him already.

Here’s some of the Twitter reaction to his performance on Thursday night:

https://twitter.com/FantasticForre1/status/1096160886597795840

https://twitter.com/william_holms/status/1096148212275167232

Time for something new?

We hold our hands up. We were calling out for Izaguirre to start on Thursday night over Hayes. With Kieran Tierney out, we even said there was a silver lining in that news because Izzy was fit. Oh how wrong we were.

Izaguirre was far too slow at that level of European competition. It’s a level he hasn’t played at since a 1-1 draw at Manchester City back in 2016. And he looked so far out of his depth against a team with quicker passing than your average SPFL outfit.

Yet, even though we went for Rodgers to give the Honduran another run-out today to try and bounce back, this could be a game for Hayes ahead of Thursday night.

Starting Izaguirre in Valencia is looking more and more suicidal. His positioning is poor, whilst his one-to-one defending is nowhere near what it used to be when he first since nearly 10 years ago. We found that out in spades on Thursday.

Yet, the plastic pitch at Rugby Park could be detrimental for a player like Hayes. The Irishman suffered a severe ankle break last season. Whether there’s still a hesitancy to throw him onto a plastic pitch remains to be seen (he hasn’t played in one since).

Celtic can’t afford to take risks against Kilmarnock this afternoon. Killie have the ability to take advantage of any mistakes available to seize on under Steve Clarke.

Yet, Rodgers has a big decision to make on his second-choice left-back. For now, we’ll stick by Izaguirre getting the chance to rid Valencia from his mind. But don’t be surprised if Rodgers thinks differently, just like many other supporters do.