After a game in which Celtic were crying out for a creative spark, some supporters can’t get their head around why Tom Rogic wasn’t involved.
The Australian flair player didn’t make the matchday squad whatsoever for yesterday’s 1-1 draw at Rugby Park. That’s despite the fact he was on the bench against Hamilton Academical just one week previous.
Rogic has often been discarded from matchday squads for games on plastic pitches, with Kilmarnock, Livingston, and Hamilton all having synthetic surfaces at their home grounds.
However, that didn’t stop some Celtic fans from questioning his absence. Here’s a look at what some of the supporters said on social media about the Aussie:
https://twitter.com/MOYOURMEADOW/status/1292508312316116992
Rogic was the hero on plastic last season
As much as Rogic seldom plays on artificial surfaces, he was the hero on one last season. Indeed, he came on as a substitute against Livingston before the shutdown last season to snatch a vital point at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Aussie will always be fit to play on these kinds of pitches. It could be down to how he’s been training in the build-up or whether he feels any pain in a certain area. It simply won’t be as straightforward as “he played against Livi so he should play in all games on plastic”.
However, in saying that, Rogic certainly isn’t Lennon’s first choice in any case. Ryan Christie, one of our better players yesterday, has grabbed that number 10 role. His opener at Rugby Park will do him a power of good in keeping his place in the team too.
Rogic has a power of work to do to prove he deserves to feature regularly. If you look back on his stats from last season, Rogic only made 22 appearances out of a possible 53 matches (Transfermarkt). Hardly swashbuckling stuff from the attacker.
It’s perhaps a stretch to say that the days of putting our faith in him are long gone, but he’s nowhere near the talisman he once was for us. Injuries have held him back massively, and not being able to play regularly on plastic surfaces has come from that. Hopefully, he’s back in the squad for Wednesday’s trip to St Mirren.
In other news, Lennon was pleased for new Bhoy Vasilis Barkas as he hailed his performance.
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