Tom Rogic overlooked for Celtic loss to Rangers today

Add as preferred source on Google

Celtic attacking midfielder Tom Rogic was mysteriously left out of the 14 who played against Rangers today.

The Hoops, for large spells against Steven Gerrard’s side, were severely lacking in creativity. Ryan Christie’s penalty miss seemed to frighten him out of the game, as he made no impact over the 90 minutes.

The most natural substitution Lenny could have thrown on for him was indeed Rogic. However, yet again, he decided to leave Tam on the bench.

It’s the sixth league game in-a-row that Rogic has been left out of the starting XI. That was to be expected, but the fact he didn’t come on for the fourth time in six matches is a concern too.

Rogic has only made 11 appearances this season despite being one of our most special talents (Transfermarkt). If we needed anyone to come on and inject something, it was most certainly the man from Oz.

Ntcham in over Rogic

Instead, Neil Lennon threw Olivier Ntcham onto the pitch instead. The Frenchman played a good ball into Odsonne Edouard on one occasion. Outside of that, he was anonymous.

Of course, that’s not to say that Rogic definitely would’ve turned the game around. However, he has a proven track record against Rangers – scoring at Celtic Park, Ibrox, and Hampden Park against them. He knows what this fixture is all about, and we know he can provide in it.

So his absence from the field of play today is a concern for him. Lennon hasn’t managed to see much game-time for him, that’s despite the fact the number 10 position is a prominent part of the manager’s system.

Rogic will surely start seeing some minutes after the January break. The trip to Dubai is huge for him if he’s to make an impact in the second half of the season. He should be Christie’s main rival and should be breathing down his neck for opportunities like today.

As it stands, however, Rogic has only managed 14 minutes of football since January 1st. It’s not exactly inspiring ahead of the second half of the campaign.

Who knows what kind of impact a fit and firing Rogic could’ve made today? In a match where we looked devoid of any creative talents, the fact he didn’t see any minutes is a puzzler.