Anyone underperforming for Celtic this season is seriously feeling the heat.
Many Celtic players have been criticised left, right and centre this term, and it could be argued that Michel-Ange Balikwisha has been near the top of that list.
What made matters worse for Balikwisha is his performance during Celtic’s Scottish Cup win over Auchinleck Talbot at the weekend.
The DR Congo star played as a number ten, and it didn’t go down well, but Tony Watt was keen to shut down the negative noise around him.
- READ MORE: The four priorities Martin O’Neill and Michael Nicholson discussed at Celtic transfer meeting
Michel-Ange Balikwisha: flop or unfairly treated?
Open Goal panel discuss Michel-Ange Balikwisha’s season at Celtic
Celtic signed Balikwisha for £5 million from Royal Antwerp in the summer, and that was brought up by Paul Slane on Open Goal.
Slane stated that it is ‘beyond me’ that the champions of Scotland put that type of money on the table for his services.
The rest of the Open Goal panel were also giving him stick, including how he should have been ‘running the show’ against a sixth-tier side.
But Watt was the only one trying to shut off the noise by explaining how ‘hard’ it has been for the versatile forward, including not playing as much as he would have liked.
| Games | Starts | Goals | Assists | Total minutes |
| 14 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 398 |
That’s when Allan insisted that Balikwisha’s critics need to be ‘patient’ with him, even though he continues to receive so much stick.
Paul Slane: “I need to be careful what I’m saying at the moment. It feels like I am being so negative. Nothing. Absolutely nothing (in terms of positives for Celtic right now).
“I can’t believe what’s going on at that club. You are talking about this time last year. I know everybody is saying it, and I don’t want to keep repeating people. But Celtic were a minute away from going to extra-time with Bayern Munich.”
Scott Allan: “Balikwisha as a ten.”
Slane: “Oh God.”
Andy Halliday: “I thought he was really poor.”
Slane: “It’s not an easy target because everybody is saying ‘how bad he is.’ But how they have spent £5 million on him is beyond me.”
Watt: “It’s hard, though, because he hasn’t played any games. To try and adapt to a new team, it’s hard to write him off for now.”
Allan: “Even though he was on a big pitch against a team in the sixth division.”
Halliday: “Aye. There is an expectation that you should literally just run the show. There is.”
Allan: “I understand. Listen, Talbot had so many guys behind the ball. You have to be really patient with it. Move the ball quickly, and that pitch is probably the worst one for that.”
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
