Lawrence Shankland’s goal against Hibernian wasn’t enough to impress some Celtic fans who watched him yesterday.
Tosh McKinlay was again in the stand as he watched Shankland score against a top-six outfit (Scottish Sun). The 2-2 Scottish Cup draw between Dundee United and Hibs was enthralling, but outside of his goal, Shankland failed to truly standout.
There were several more productive and high-quality players on the pitch. The likes of Hibs’ Martin Boyle and Scott Allan were far more impactful than Shankland.
And it appears that some in our support weren’t over-enthused by how he performed in his big chance to shine either. Here’s a look at some of the social media reaction :
https://twitter.com/Celt_Bhoy1888/status/1219105281654902784
https://twitter.com/MD3290/status/1218945262586093570
https://twitter.com/Jamie67_/status/1218941667710992384
https://twitter.com/TheDampChamp/status/1219201132838506497
Shankland needed to do more, but will get another chance
It wasn’t the match-winning performance we would all have liked to see. Yes, he scored a fine goal, and yes he, on occasion, held the ball up well. But it wasn’t anything that should lead the Celtic management team into thinking he’s better than what we’ve got.
Shankland will have another chance to make his mark when United travel to Easter Road for the replay. That one will take place on Tuesday 28th January. If Shankland is to keep Celtic’s interest or to perhaps force a bid out of us, he has to do more than he did last night.
It’s not now a case of scoring against Premiership teams. Any Celtic striker should be able to manage that in their sleep. It’s a case of now showing that he has the attributes necessary to lead the line for the best team in the country.
There are so many players who have shined in the Scottish Championship but failed to make the same impact in the Premiership. Lewis Morgan was one of them, as was the likes of Martyn Waghorn and Nicky Clark. It’s a massive step up to move to a Premiership team alone nevermind the top one.
Shankland has 25 goals this season and nobody can take those strikes away from him (Transfermarkt). He continues to be talked about seriously within the Celtic support as a possible signing, and that shows the improvement in him from his time at Aberdeen and St Mirren.
However, nothing positive was learned yesterday. All eyes will now turn to the replay to see if he can make more of an impact in that one.
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