Oliver Burke’s fall from the Celtic starting XI has been startling.
The West Brom star arrived in Glasgow on a six-month loan deal until the end of the season. He was another Brendan Rodgers loan signing, and as such, Neil Lennon hasn’t stuck with him.
Yet when Burke first arrived, he showed plenty of positive attributes. His pace was the obvious one, as he had the ability to breeze past defenders at will in his early stages.
What has let him down, however, is his technical ability. Burke has looked more of an athlete over the last couple of months as opposed to a footballer. He clearly isn’t suited to the lone-striker role that Celtic seemed to be eyeing for him.
Neil Lennon claimed earlier this month that Celtic only have one striker in Odsonne Edouard. Therefore, if he now sees Burke as a winger, it’s difficult to see how he ever plays ahead of James Forrest.
But there have been matches where Burke’s introduction has seemed necessary. The second-half against Rangers, for example, was a game screaming out for Burke’s pace on the counter. Sure, his ball control can at times let him down, but being frozen out as much as he has done seems a tad unfair.
It almost feels as though he’s being punished for THAT miss against Livingston. And, granted, it was an absolute shocker. But he has been getting into those kinds of areas for Celtic. His performance in the previous match at St Mirren was also a concern, however, as he fluffed a couple of decent opportunities there too.
Burke isn’t useless
But to say Burke can’t offer us anything is nonsense. His pace can burn any full-back in the division if he’s on his game. He has that kind of explosion in him. Yet he’s being overlooked for consistently poor regulars such as Scott Sinclair. Jonny Hayes has also been playing regularly over him despite being hot and cold also.
You wonder how much of this has to do with Burke being a loan player. Burke, Timothy Weah, Jeremy Toljan, and Filip Benkovic are all only here for another few weeks before heading to their parent clubs. Not one of them is a first-team regular anymore.
But in Burke’s case, it would’ve been nice to see him a couple more times before the end of the season. He still has something to offer, especially later on in games where the opposition is tiring.
He may have had that horror miss against Livingston, but he was alert and in the area.
Chances of keeping him, or many fans even wanting to keep him, seems minimal. It’s been a loan spell that’s sadly petered out.
Did Burke truly deserve to be frozen out as he has? An unused substitute in the last two matches doesn’t read well at this time of the season. Let us know your opinions on him in the comments below.
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