The eye of scrutiny is certainly falling over all quarters at Celtic this week after the lost top spot in the Scottish Premiership to Rangers.
From Brendan Rodgers to the transfer policy, almost every facet of Celtic’s business is coming under serious scrutiny.
And now, it seems to be the turn of the players. We all know that there are players currently getting gametime at Celtic who should be nowhere near the first-team.
That much is obvious. But when it comes to Matt O’Riley, surely he is one that is above criticism this season after how he’s performed.
Well, of late, O’Riley himself has been struggling to recapture the form that has made him one of Celtic’s hottest properties.
And Michael Stewart believes that despite the 23-year-old being a quality player, he is still lacking in other areas of his game.
Stewart said [Scottish Football Podcast], “It’s the personnel. Not just the quality, but they don’t have intense players. There isn’t that quality.
even Matt O’Riley, who’s a top player, he’s not an intense player. He’s not somebody that’s going to harass the opposition.
“He’s not going to overpower them. He’s a quality player, but he’s not an intense player and Celtic at the moment are lacking that intensity. Big time.”
For all his flair, O’Riley isn’t a midfield general. He isn’t a player that is going to offer you that dig in the middle of the park like Scott Brown or Victor Wanyama did.
In fact, there are no players like that in the Celtic midfield right now. Even Callum McGregor, for the legend that he is, and how hard he works at pressing doesn’t have that part of the game in him.
Rodgers tried to address that with the addition of Hyeokkyo Kwon but the South Korean failed to break into the Celtic first team.
Ange Postecoglou also attempted to fix it with Tomoki Iwata. But despite the Japanese impressing in the rare appearances that he gets, he also has failed to make it into the Hoops first-team.
Hopefully, Rodgers can address this in the summer transfer window as it’s an area of the team that has been glaringly weak for a number of seasons now.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers shares what he told the Celtic players immediately after dropping points to Kilmarnock
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