Most of the coverage of Celtic’s weekend fixture against Hearts has been dominated by the match officials and VAR.
With Celtic now in the process of appealing the red card given to Hyunjun Yang, the story surrounding the video refereeing at Tynecastle looks set to rumble on this week.
And whilst that carries on, much of the analysis of the game has been neglected. Like just how much Celtic missed Callum McGregor.
The Celtic captain has been ruled out for at least two games by Brendan Rodgers but at Tynecastle on Sunday, his omission from the team was glaring.
So was the performance of his replacement, Paulo Bernardo. Now, in fairness to the Portuguese, he was taken off at half-time to allow the inclusion of Kyogo Furuhashi but Pat Bonner is still convinced of the 22-year-old and has raised questions about what he actually contributes to the team.
Bonner said [BBC Radio Scotland], “They miss Callum McGregor, there’s no question about that. They’ve nobody to really replace Callum McGregor.
“They are weak in midfield. They’ve lost Aaron Mooy, they’ve lost McGregor, [David] Turnbull is gone.
“And they haven’t strengthened in that position really.
“Bernardo’s come in. But what can I say about Bernardo? What does he contribute to the team from that perspective?
“Especially when you’re down to ten men.”
Callum McGregor’s importance to Celtic
Celtic have gone on and won a game this season after being reduced to ten men before. Joe Hart‘s red card against Livingston back in September in the 3-0 win meant Rodgers’ side hade to play over an hour a man down.
McGregor was at the heart of Celtic’s midfield that game even though Daizen Maeda stole the show.
But the Celtic captain’s absence was certainly felt by the team and the fans will be hoping that McGregor will back in the green and white hoops sooner rather than later.
In other news, What Norwich City really think about Adam Idah’s impact at Celtic
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