John Hartson doesn’t hold back and calls out Adam Idah after his latest Celtic showing

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Celtic aren’t having a great 2025 by their standards and are suffering way too many defeats.

Since the turn of the year, Brendan Rodgers has watched his team lose six matches in all competitions, including their latest showing over the weekend.

Even against a bottom-of-the-table side, Celtic still managed to lose to St Johnstone, and whilst the Premiership title will still be won, it isn’t a good look, and Rodgers was right to call out the players.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	32	25	3	4	92	21	71	78
2	RangersRangers	32	20	5	7	66	33	33	65
3	HibernianHibernian	32	13	11	8	50	41	9	50
4	AberdeenAberdeen	32	14	7	11	43	47	-4	49

Many players didn’t cover themselves in glory, with the struggling Nicolas Kuhn getting a lot of stick, especially given that he was subbed at the break.

Whilst Kuhn started the match in Perth, summer signing Adam Idah came off the bench and replaced the usually impressive Daizen Maeda after the hour mark.

This was Idah’s chance to proves his worth and get back into the XI, but John Hartson doesn’t like what he saw or is seeing in the overall picture.

• READ MORE: Chris Sutton says Adam Idah was ‘furious’ with Celtic teammate minutes before final whistle

John Hartson wants more from Adam Idah after Celtic lose to St Johnstone

When Idah first joined on a loan deal from Norwich City, he wowed the crowd, scored the big goals, including that winner in the Scottish Cup final.

Therefore, it was obvious to all that Celtic were going to sign him for good during the recent summer window, but it was a big transfer fee.

Hartson knows exactly what it’s like to lead the line and produce the goods under such pressure situations for Celtic, but he simply doesn’t like what he sees from Idah and made it clear ‘he has to be more of a leader’, as he told Go Radio.

“He doesn’t normally (play Maeda and Idah together),” said Hartson. “Brendan’s formation doesn’t change a lot. Sometimes when he is chasing a game.

“He doesn’t very often go with the two up, unless you are chasing the game, like they were against St Johnstone.

“I thought Idah come on and I thought he was poor. I think he needs to do more. He comes on, and he has to get a grip of it. He has to be a bit more of a leader. Get it into me. Give me the ball. Get it wide.

“It’s almost like he comes on, and I just thought he went through the motions. And I like Adam Idah. I think he has something to his game.

“But, against St Johnstone, it’s almost like he comes on and it’s like he just comes on. You have to want to come on. A better attitude to make an impact in the game.”

Idah’s stats for Celtic this season

Kyogo Furuhashi’s Celtic exit during the winter transfer window should have been the moment Idah’s season properly started.

Not forgetting that Celtic didn’t even replace the Japan star, and that annoyed many, including Rodgers, who was disappointed at a new striker not coming in.

But that was another moment for Idah to earn more minutes, starts and score more goals, yet, he is sitting on the bench and getting criticism.

Competition		Games	Goals	Assists	Minutes played
	Premiership	29	8	1	1,354′
	UEFA Champions League	10	3	–	338′
	League Cup	4	2	–	185′
	SFA Cup	2	1	–	13′
Total 24/25:		45	14	1	1,890′