They say that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and today that was certainly the case when it came to Celtic and Giorgos Giakoumakis.
Giakoumakis has come in for some real criticism during spells of his Celtic career. Despite only signing in the summer in a £2.5m transfer from VVV-Venlo, the Greek striker suffered a troubled first half of the campaign. Injury and form issues led to many supporters and pundits losing patience with him so early into his Hoops career [Glasgow Times].
Fast forward a few months and we are in late February with Giakoumakis flying in the Celtic first-team with 6 goals in 2022 alone. His last game, at home to Dundee in the Premiership last weekend, saw him net a hat-trick in a performance that seriously announced his arrival here.
His impact has been felt whenever he’s started for the Hoops, and now we can say it’s been felt when he’s been out of the side too. Because at Easter Road in today’s dismal 0-0 draw in Leith, we saw just how important a player he is to Ange Postecoglou’s side.
Celtic put 40 crosses into the penalty area this afternoon as they often looked to exploit Hibs down the flanks. Only 20% of them resulted in an accurate ball – 8 in total [Fotmob]. Absolutely 0 of them troubled Hibernian goalkeeper Matt Macey.
Celtic went with Daizen Maeda up top, and despite the fact he put a lot of energy into the match, we got nothing out of him in terms of his hold-up play or from aerial ability.
Giorgos Giakoumakis brings a lot more to Celtic in the number 9 role
Of course, we aren’t looking to power in on Maeda here. He’s clearly more comfortable coming in from the left and it’s evident he didn’t get much in the way of service today anyway. The performances of Tom Rogic and Reo Hatate had a huge part to play in Maeda’s quiet display.
But Giakoumakis offers us exactly what we need in battles such as Easter Road. Had he been playing this afternoon, many of those crosses that posed no danger to Hibs would’ve given them a lot more to think about. Giakoumakis would’ve won a host of them, and that would’ve caused real trouble.
In addition to that, Celtic would’ve been a lot more effective in their hold-up play. Maeda this afternoon only managed 7 passes throughout the entire 90 minutes. This is because he barely won a thing in the air against the Hibs backline. Only 57.1% of his passes were accurate too – again due to the fact his hold-up play was subpar [WhoScored].
This is an area where Giakoumakis is a clear improvement. Could you have imagined him, for example, up against the likes of Ryan Porteous? It certainly would’ve been much more of a battle. Much more of a contest. And it likely would’ve led to some more substantial goalscoring opportunities.
Fortunately, the big Greek is likely to be back for this Wednesday’s clash against St Mirren at Celtic Park. That will also allow Maeda to play in his more comfortable left-wing role if he gets the nod ahead of Jota.
Even though he didn’t play this afternoon, nothing vindicates Giakoumakis’ Celtic impact this year more than his absence today. The sooner he’s back, the better.
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