Kris Boyd highlights three other Celtic players who aren’t performing amid Nicolas Kuhn criticism

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Nicolas Kuhn has been coming under fire of late at Celtic.

That’s what happens when you play for such a pressure cooker of a club because, despite having 18 goals and 14 assists to his name in all competitions, there is still a worry and criticism about where his form is going.

On Sunday, Kuhn was hooked off at half-time as Brendan Rodgers watched his Celtic side suffer a surprise defeat to the Premiership’s bottom club, St Johnstone.

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

There were many poor performances across the board, but it was Kuhn who seemed to sit in the spotlight and take most of the flak.

It’s going to be interesting to see what changes Rodgers makes to his XI when Celtic host Kilmarnock in the Premiership at the weekend.

Whilst Kuhn might not be in the XI for that game, there are others across the board who also need to up their game and might also find themselves sitting on the bench.

• READ MORE: James McFadden speaks the truth about James Forrest after Celtic’s defeat to St Johnstone

Arne Engels, Reo Hatate and Auston Trusty come under fire amid Nicolas Kuhn criticism

Even though Celtic are going to win the league, it doesn’t mean that you should accept the current performances that are being produced.

The issue here is that several players, for far too long now, haven’t been performing and putting in the performances they should be.

Kris Boyd named Arne Engels as one player who ‘doesn’t do enough’, as well as Reo Hatate drifting ‘in and out of games’, including question marks over Auston Trusty’s performances on the domestic scene, as he told Sky Sports Football (06/04/25 at 2:20 pm).

“Well, he (Rodgers) is beginning to with that interview (question the players) and rightly so,” said Boyd. “I don’t know what has happened to Nicolas Kuhn.

“The first part of the season, he was unbelievable. There is no getting away from it. We have seen glimpses. I think Engels is another one. I know he is a young boy. It’s £11 million. We have seen glimpses of, ‘yeah, he does look like a player’. But he doesn’t do enough, for me.

“Hatate drifts in and out of games. I think Schlupp has done well in games, but against St Johnstone was poor. Trusty, even domestically, he has done really well in Europe, but there have been games domestically where you are questioning Trusty as well.

“I know Brendan Rodgers has spoken about having that left-footer on the left-hand side – but I am going to have to agree with Brendan Rodgers, you have to give credit to St Johnstone.”

Who needs dropping for the Kilmarnock match?

Rodgers called out the Celtic players after the St Johnstone game, so you suspect that changes now have to be made for the Kilmarnock match.

But which players are under fire? The above quartet, who have been spoken about, are certainly on the ropes and will be lucky to keep their place in the XI.

This is how WhoScored rated their performance against St Johnstone.

• Nicolas Kuhn – 6.24
• Auston Trusty – 6.93
• Arne Engels – 6.35
• Reo Hatate – 7.23