Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has been weighing up whether Brendan Rodgers will opt for Adam Idah or Kyogo Furuhashi for his team’s next two matches.
Over the next few days, the Bhoys will face difficult tests away to St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
With a trip to Ross County also coming next weekend, Rodgers will be leaning on squad depth throughout this period, which makes for some intriguing selection decisions.
Sutton has now made the case for Idah to feature in Germany on Tuesday night, feeling he is a viable option to offer a different attacking style if the Celtic manager fancies switching things up tactically.
Chris Sutton fancies Adam Idah vs Dortmund
The pundit said [Daily Record]: “In addition, Idah isn’t just some big lump. He can move and has link-up play. I’d say Kyogo is probably cleaner in his work when it comes to that specific aspect of playing the position.
“But Idah can do it and I always felt that, when Celtic were struggling to get out in games under Postecoglou in away Euro games with Kyogo, Giorgos Giakoumakis was a useful and strong alternative. It might be similar with Idah. It’s not a case of saying who is a better striker, it’s a case of horses for courses.
“That’s why Rodgers paid £9million for him. To offer an option, a viable alternative as well as a back-up to Kyogo. If it’s Idah, Celtic have the speed in Maeda and Kuhn and the athleticism of Arne Engels to get up the pitch and support him. And Kyogo could affect going on later in the game with more spaces to exploit.
“I don’t believe Saturday’s selection when Celtic face St Johnstone will offer Dortmund clues because Rodgers will go with his best line-up for the Perth task in hand. He’ll do just the same thing in Germany. And I’ll be fascinated to see whether it’s Kyogo or Idah whom he sees as the best fit for the job.”
Electric Kyogo offers his own strengths
For me, Kyogo is just about Celtic’s best player. You play your best players in your biggest matches. I understand Sutton’s argument for Idah but I just think the Japanese star can better exploit the Dortmund defence.
Pace and quick transitions can hurt the home side on Tuesday. I trust Kyogo to find that space more effectively and have the speed of thought to hurt the Germans.
Rodgers is blessed to have two different styles of striker, and both will be used throughout the 90 minutes in Perth and Dortmund. Hopefully, one of them, can bang in the goals to continue Celtic’s stellar start to the season.
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