Celtic’s lack of creativity on Sunday was ultimately the reason why Brendan Rodgers’ men found themselves out of the cup.
But Brendan Rodgers could solve that by looking to bring in Tomoki Iwata for the next two games. With Reo Hatate ruled out for the foreseeable future, Celtic are lacking that midfield spark.
The Japanese midfielder’s vision and passing has cut open defences in Scotland and Europe and Celtic are clearly missing that.
Iwata, although a defensive midfielder, could then free up Callum McGregor to take up the midfield role that has been left empty by Hatate’s absence.
Whilst David Turnbull has impressed recently, the Scotland midfielder was anonymous against Killie on Sunday and he wasn’t any better against Aberdeen at Pittodire.
McGregor has the ability and range of passing that Hatate has and is one of the most consistent players at Celtic. And that is vital to the team right now.
At Kilmarnock, 67 Hail Hail told how out of 11 chances created, only three of those led to the Hoops having a shot on target.
That is highly unusual for Celtic. Over the past two seasons, we have seen the team carve out chance after chance using a very attack-minded style of football.
That has changed under Brendan Rodgers and even with 70% of possession at Rugby Park, the team struggled to do anything effective with it.
Chris Sutton described the lack of creativity as a ‘problem’ for Celtic and Neil Lennon also highlighted this in his post-match analysis that he felt the midfield and final third cost Celtic the tie.
Iwata would bring stability to the holding role whilst allowing McGregor freedom to use his creativity in the Celtic midfield.
Giving it a go against St Johnstone would test the water for the upcoming trip to Ibrox. And if it works, it means Rodgers just needs to concentrate on how he keeps the door shut at the back with the limited amount of defenders he has at his disposal.
In other news, Charlie Mulgrew backs Celtic star Joe Hart to deliver for Brendan Rodgers; but with a caveat
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