Jonny Hayes made his first Celtic appearance last night in over three months. For some fans, however, those three months haven’t been long enough.
The Irishman had a big opportunity to impress in the 1-1 draw at Fir Park against Motherwell last night. Given how results went elsewhere, Celtic could’ve topped the table once again with three points on the night.
Instead, however, a variety of players under-performed as Brendan Rodgers made seven changes to the side who won the Betfred Cup last weekend.
One of those changes was that of former Aberdeen man Hayes. He took over from James Forrest down the right, but struggled to make much of an impact in a scrappy affair.
It seems, however, that supporters aren’t willing to forgive him quickly if the Twitter responses to his display are anything to go by. Here’s what the Hoops fans had to say post-match regarding Hayes:
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https://twitter.com/championees/status/1070432533102411778
https://twitter.com/The2pClub/status/1070428732295393285
Not the worst on the pitch
Despite much of the fan criticism towards him, Hayes is an easy target and wasn’t anywhere near the worst on the pitch in green-and-white last night.
The likes of Scott Sinclair, Cristian Gamboa, and Leigh Griffiths all put in some dreadful performances that didn’t help matters. With Rodgers making seven changes, you could see there was a clear lack of chemistry in some of the things Celtic were trying to do on the night.
Added to that, Hayes was only making his first appearance since the 3-0 win over Suduva in Europa League qualifying back in August. Expecting him to come in and have a storming game considering his previous injury problems isn’t fair.
The issue Hayes now has, however, is finding out where the next opportunity is going to come from. James Forrest is expected to come back into the squad for the visit of Kilmarnock, with many big games coming up for the Hoops.
It was a huge chance last night for the Irishman, but he simply didn’t take it. The fan criticism may be overboard, but the performance from him remained a tad underwhelming.