As performance issues at Celtic start to concern the supporters, now would be the perfect time to see whether Yosuke Ideguchi can bring something different to the Hoops.
Ideguchi was one of 3 January signings from the J-League. However, despite the regular game-time for Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate respectively, it’s been a different story for the former Gamba Osaka man.
Ideguchi suffered a nasty ankle injury against Alloa back in January that left Ange Postecoglou fuming [Celtic TV]. But he’s now been back available since the Scottish Cup win over 15 days ago.
Since then, the box-to-box midfielder has been on the sidelines in league matches against Dundee and Hibernian respectively. He also wasn’t registered for the UECL squad to face Bodo/Glimt either.
Yesterday’s snub against Hibs was an intriguing one. Many saw Ideguchi’s absence from the European squad as a key sign that he had a big impact to play domestically. That he wasn’t turned to even as it became clear Celtic were struggling to break the Easter Road side down was eyebrow-raising.
Ange is clearly a big fan of the midfielder too. He’s someone he had scouted stretching back to his time in Australia. Someone the manager said he was “excited” to start working with [Celtic Website].
Time to invest some faith in Yosuke Ideguchi as his Celtic chance now surely beckoning
Ideguchi describes himself as a good ball-winner, as well as a player that likes to make forward runs and spearhead attacking moves [Daily Record]. In other words, a real box-to-box grafter.
That’s certainly something we missed yesterday. Tom Rogic hasn’t been up to the required standard since his time away with Australia last month. The same goes for the out-of-form Reo Hatate. As much as Matt O’Riley should’ve started at Easter Road in our frustrating 0-0 draw, the opportunity was there to give Ideguchi his big chance.
The Celtic fans have heard all about his game. We know he’s also bagged over 15 caps with the Japanese national team [Transfermarkt]. But outside of that, we’ve still to find so much more about how he can affect things at Celtic and what he’ll bring to the team.
St Mirren at Celtic Park on Wednesday night looks like the ideal opportunity to get a look at him. With Hatate and Rogic struggling, it makes little sense to put them back into the firing line. O’Riley should be back in there, and it would inject some excitement into the pre-match build-up if Ideguchi was alongside him too.
Let’s not forget the Japanese international should be fresh after having plenty of rest and recovery time in recent weeks. There aren’t going to be many other opportunities in the run-in to get a look at Ideguchi without taking major risks. St Mirren at home, with all due respect to the Buddies, is on paper the safest opportunity we’ll have to get him out there.
Ange has to change something. The performances have been poor stretching back to the Raith Rovers game over a fortnight ago. We have 1 win in our last 4 matches and it’s time to freshen things up. Surely, when it comes to Ideguchi, his opportunity has now arrived.
In other news, Shaun Maloney explains why he didn’t “have a go” at Celtic yesterday
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