Pat Bonner has hailed Reo Hatate’s performance against Aberdeen as Celtic’s win took the three points back down to Glasgow yesterday afternoon.
The former Celtic goalkeeper highlighted how the Japanese midfielder helped take control of the second-half despite his short appearance and also praised his attitude after he found himself on the sidelines for the first two games of the season.
Bonner said [BBC Sportsound], “I think because of that second-half performance they [Celtic] deserved to win the game from that perspective. And I think the introduction of [Reo] Hatate in the second half, we know he’s a quality player, but he’s been out of things.
“He could have easily come on to the pitch and put the head down and even said ‘I’m hard done by, I should have been on from the start’, but he got about his business, didn’t he? And he was really, really good.
“Him and Callum McGregor then just really controlled that midfield with just simple passing simple.
“Passing, moving, getting on the ball, finding space. And that’s when they were at their best. Unfortunately, he is injured and he’s got to go off and then the other big injury to Carter-Vickers.
“That’ll be worrying Brendan Rodgers. Let’s hope they’re not too badly injured and they will recover quickly.”
Hatate is undoubtedly one of Celtic’s best midfielders. When Brendan Rodgers made the call to choose David Turnbull over the 25-year-old at the beginning of the season, it certainly raised a few eyebrows amongst the Hoops support.
However, after Turnbull failed to make an impact at Pittodrie, Hatate came on and reminded the Celtic manager of the quality that he possesses to reclaim his first-team status this season.
Hopefully, Hatate’s injury is not a serious one and he will be available for Rodgers in the coming weeks because looking at the fixtures we have ahead of us, we are going to need him.
In other news, Stan Petrov delivers a transfer message that Celtic must heed
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