Pundits Pat Bonner and James McFadden have not missed with their criticism of defender Jozo Simunovic after his howler against Copenhagen in the Europa League tonight, speaking to BBC Scotland.
Simunovic’s under-hit pass allowed Michael Santos to break through on goal, with the player then able to take advantage Christopher Jullien’s failure to clear and hit home the side’s opener in a 3-1 victory.
Celtic, as a result, have crashed out of Europe after a 2-4 aggregate defeat.
Former Hoops goalkeeper Bonner thinks Simunovic simply should have cleared his lines and blasted the ball into the stands rather than try to play his way out of trouble.
As quoted by BBC Scotland (27/02 live match page, 21:12), he said: “Simunovic should have knocked it into the stand. As soon as he lets it bounce he’s under pressure. It’s another big mistake from him, we’ve seen it so many times.”
McFadden meanwhile, summed up the situation simply five minutes later, telling the broadcaster: “Simunovic gives you the fear at times.”
Unfortunately, as Bonner notes, it’s all too predictable for Celtic fans who know that Simunovic is hardly the most reliable defender to come through the doors at Celtic Park in recent years.
It’s a gutting error in a tie we could and, perhaps, should have won. We’ve missed a real opportunity to make knockout progression in Europe for the first time since 2004.
Serious questions will now be asked about the Croatian’s long-term future at the club. Lennon has praised the player highly as recently as last month, stating he is keen to keep Simunovic beyond this summer.
Whether that will still be the case remains to be seen.
He wasn’t the only poor performer tonight but we simply can’t be making those kinds of errors at this level if we want to progress.
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