The verdict after Celtic-linked Turnbull & Boyle go head-to-head live on Sky

By David Walton

August 16, 2020

Some Celtic supporters have been reacting on social media to the performances of both David Turnbull and Martin Boyle yesterday.

Both Turnbull and Boyle have been spoken about regarding moves to Parkhead this summer from Motherwell and Hibernian respectively.

The Daily Record last month reported that Celtic were still watching Motherwell midfielder Turnbull, whilst Kris Commons urged the Hoops to move for Hibs’ Boyle in his Daily Mail column.

David Turnbull was close to joining Celtic last summer / (Photo by Ewan Bootman/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Yesterday they faced each other at Easter Road as Motherwell impressed and managed to end Hibs’ 100% win record with a 0-0 draw. Turnbull was a driving force for the Lanarkshire outfit, but Boyle was often stifled and even missed a one-v-one in the first half.

Here’s a look at what some of the Hoops support thought of their performances, with our verdict following:

Turnbull tremendous but Boyle blows it

Stat tracking website WhoScored rated Turnbull as one of the best performers throughout the Easter Road 90 minutes, ranking highest amongst the Motherwell starting eleven.

Boyle meanwhile was regarded by WhoScored as Hibs’ worst.

Motherwell dominated the game for large spells and that was largely down to both Turnbull and Allan Campbell. Their movement in the midfield was too much for a static Hibs side to deal with.

If they were a touch more ruthless in the final third, nobody could’ve argued had the Steelmen run away with this one.

The impressive thing about Turnbull is that he just seems to pop up all over the pitch.

You’ll see him turning in the centre of the park and playing a lovely switch of play before, moments later, seeing him on the end of a decent-looking effort from 15 yards out. He’s absolutely everywhere, and promisingly for Celtic, he doesn’t look to have allowed his injury to hold him back.

Michael Stewart was certainly impressed with his performance yesterday too – labelling Turnbull a “special talent”.

Hibernian winger Martin Boyle (Photo by Callum Landells/Getty Images)

As for Boyle, this was his chance to really impress a Celtic support who had to watch on with their side out of action for a week.

Hibs were live on Sky Sports yesterday, and being at home, it was always going to be down to the Australian international to light the game up. He didn’t.

Often stumbling over the ball or playing loose passes to his team-mates, we certainly caught Boyle on an off-day. His pace did cause Motherwell’s back-line problems, and he even managed to run off them to get himself one-v-one with Trevor Carson. His effort, however, was easily saved.

Yet the most disappointing aspect of Boyle’s play yesterday was his crossing ability. He didn’t have much bother getting beyond his man, but his deliveries were often low, tame, and easily cleared.

If he’s to really earn a big move elsewhere, he needs to be more ruthless than what he showed yesterday.

In other news, Steven Fletcher has admitted his mind was swayed towards Stoke City before he even spoke to Celtic.