Brendan Rodgers benched Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi primarily to help him get speed and intensity back into his game after a heavy run of matches.
Kyogo has missed out on the starting eleven against Hibernian and Kilmarnock but was used as a second-half substitute in both fixtures.
He had made 20 starts for the club before that, this season, firmly part of the manager’s core group of players. The Japanese star has scored eight goals this season but only once in his last ten matches.
He’ll now return to the team against Feyenoord tonight and Rodgers is hoping he can find that spark in his game we all know he possesses – especially after some video analysis work at Lennoxtown.
Brendan Rodgers on Kyogo
The Celtic boss explained [Daily Record]: “We have to be fair to Kyogo and some of the other boys as well. They can’t play in every single game. You lose that speed and intensity.
“Oh’s done well when he’s come into the game. A bit like Mikey, he gets his start and then obviously the team plays well against Hibs so you let that starting team start apart from Cameron Carter-Vickers with a view to making changes. But you need a good squad and you need to give some relief to players, especially with him and the amount of work he gets through.
“We went through his video stuff the other week. We looked primarily at the fact I don’t need him dropping in so much. When you’re playing in a lot of games where teams are sat deep, you don’t get a kick of the ball really unless it comes into the box. So what do you do? You start wandering. His strength is his penetration. That’s his strength, running in behind and timing his runs. You have to make 10 runs maybe to only get in once but that’s your job as a striker.
“So there’s been nothing changed in that. There’s been absolutely nothing different asked of him because his strength is playing off the last line, timing his movements and being instinctive in the box. He’s not a dribbler, he’s not someone who does drop in. He can do it but it’s not his strength. And that’s always the challenge for a striker who wants to affect games. But he’s very receptive. He’s not a baby, remember, he’s 28 years of age.”
On top form, many fans would argue that Kyogo is not only the best player at Celtic but the best player in Scotland. The manager must find a way to get him to perform at optimum levels.
From Rodgers’ comments, he knows where the striker is going wrong. It is being addressed at Lennoxtown by the staff and the player. Now it’s on Kyogo to put that into action in matches.
Hopefully this time out of the team has reinvigorated him and he can attack this crucial upcoming period to show how good he is.
In other news, Defensive absences, midfield call; Celtic team news and Predicted XI for Feyenoord test.
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