Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic and his muted celebration draw criticism

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Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic and his goal celebration from Wednesday night, or lack thereof, have been called into question.

The Australian midfielder was low-key in his response to opening the scoring against St Mirren [Highlights via SPFL]. After his lovely left-footed shot nestled into the bottom corner, Rogic was muted in his response.

Celtic went on to win 4-0, with goals from Edouard, Christie and Turnbull adding to Rogic’s strike. The Socceroo has 5 goal involvements from 16 league appearances this season [Transfermarkt]. Somewhat of a peripheral figure in 20-21, Rogic has been thrust in and out of the first-team, and his impact has varied.

McAvennie told Football Insider:

“A great goal and that is what Rogic is all about.

“But something is not right there, when he scored the goal there was no celebrations and for a goal like that you expect a celebration. It was very muted.

“I really think he is a wonderful talent but it is one of them.”

Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic: should he have been more animated?

It’s hard to know what’s going through a player’s head. Moreover, there are multiple possibilities at play here, if you’re interested.

1. Tom Rogic was thinking “fine, but let’s just get this won”
2. Tom Rogic is despondent and fed up at the club
3. There are no supporters, so why run to a camera?

It’s got to be an incredibly different sensation to score a belter when there’s nobody at the stadium. Well, fine, not nobody, but certainly no Celtic supporters.

Rogic won’t be used to that feeling. The effect that having no supporters has had on players has been pretty clear. In general, goals aren’t celebrated in the same way since Covid struck. I don’t think it’s a problem isolated to Tom Rogic. McAvennie himself would’ve felt much different scoring for empty seats.

While yes, there are millions watching at home, you can’t expect backflips. Not for a goal like Rogic’s. Yes, the Celtic midfielder hit it sweetly, and put us into the lead, but it was St Mirren. The Bhoys will not be overly excited about going 1-0 up, in the same way that going 4-0 up will have felt great.

Not for the first time…

Of course, this isn’t the first time a Celtic goalscorer has been called into question. Charlie Nicholas famously started a beef with Odsonne Edouard, for his calmer goal celebrations [Glasgow Times].

I’d argue that Nicholas kicked off the bizarre conversation about French Eddy “not caring”. Is it not possible that the context of goals is important? We’ve seen Edouard reacting calmly, we’ve seen him run to the supporters. Both are valid, and they depend entirely on context.

Similar to Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic, the criticism for not supporting goals with wild vigour every single time is getting a bit tedious. We went 1-0 up against a team we should be expected to beat comfortably, with no Celtic fans present.

There are valid criticisms to make about Celtic, the players and whoever else at the club. This one feels a little needless, although on this occasion, I think McAvennie’s heart is in the right place.

READ MORE: Riordan suggests players have “gave up tools”, as he puts it.