Mark Wilson baffled by ‘odd’ treatment of big-money Celtic star who ‘sits more in the stands’

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A lot has been said about Celtic’s recent performance in the Glasgow derby.

Brendan Rodgers can have no complaints because the team were woeful and deserved to get stung by a late Rangers winner.

Yes, Celtic cruising at the top of the Premiership table and also heading for the Treble perhaps softens the blow.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	CelticCeltic	30	24	3	3	89	20	69	75
2	RangersRangers	30	19	5	6	62	28	34	62
3	HibernianHibernian	30	11	11	8	45	41	4	44
4	AberdeenAberdeen	30	12	7	11	38	46	-8	43

But not many players can hold their heads up high because, from back to front, there were many worrying performances.

For the third Glasgow derby running, Rangers have managed to score three goals in each game and, every time, the centre-back pairing has been different.

Cameron Carter-Vickers has been the constant starter in all three matches, whilst Auston Trusty started the League Cup final and Liam Scales started the Ibrox horror show.

But, over the weekend, the forgotten about Maik Nawrocki entered the scene.

• READ MORE: Three losers and one winner from Celtic’s defeat to Rangers, including Nicolas Kuhn and Maik Nawrocki

Mark Wilson baffled by Brendan Rodgers’ treatment of Maik Nawrocki at Celtic

Celtic paid big money for Nawrocki during the summer Rodgers returned to Glasgow and that near £5 million fee has hardly shown itself on the field of play.

The reason for that is the 24-year-old has only played 16 matches since last season and you have to question why.

Wilson was impressed by what he saw from Nawrocki against Rangers and is trying to understand why he is then spending more time ‘sitting in the stands’, as he told Clyde 1 Superscoreboard.

“It’s never easy when you have been out of the picture for that long,” said Wilson. “It shows you that he is a competent defender. He can use the ball.

“Obviously, he has had injury problems. Where he couldn’t quite get fit and a run of games. That saw him out of the team.

“But I still think he would have been good enough to force himself back into the side or get closer. How many times would he have sat in the stands? Quite an interesting one. Quite an odd one, but he did himself no harm on Sunday.

“He has been at the club right now. There was a significant investment in him. Brendan Rodgers, it goes back to, he sees him every day. John Kennedy sees him every day. They have still seen that he isn’t good enough at times to challenge for those games that are more easy to win. 

“If he was there closer, he would be put into a couple of those, to make him ready for occasions such as Sunday, but it hasn’t been the case and he has come out of cold storage and straight in. He did well and I would like to see more of him – he sits more in the stands than on the bench.”

Nawrocki’s stats for Celtic against Rangers

As mentioned, Nawrocki only got minutes because Trusty and Scales were injured, as you wonder what happens after the international break.

Trusty has pulled out of USMNT duty, so you wonder if that is a sign that he won’t be back or ready for the Hearts game on March 29.

That’s where Celtic fans will be hoping to see more of Nawrocki, and so far, he has done himself no harm because WhoScored provided him with a positive rating.