Pat Bonner went on the offensive as he filleted half of the Celtic team after their first 45 minute performance against Rangers at Ibrox, and Benjamin Nygren was caught in the crossfire.
The Celtic hero branded Nygren as ‘not creative’ after a first-half at Ibrox saw the Hoops trail 2-0 against Rangers at the break.
Bonner implied Nygren offers nothing to the team as the former Celtic goalkeeper said, “If he doesn’t get himself in the box, what does he do? You know? Is he creative? No.
Celtic are better when Benjamin Nygren plays 🤨
Should Martin O'Neill be focusing the team around him so that he scores even more goals?
“In the middle of the pitch, he’ll work away, he’ll run around, but, he’s not creative.
“The only bit that he’s really good at is getting in the box, because if he can’t get the ball into the box, then it becomes null and void. That’s the problem.”
And as you can see from the TalkingPoint above, that claim is simply untrue. But there is so much more to back up Nygren than Celtic’s win percentage ratio.
The Celtic stats that make Pat Bonner’s scathing Rangers criticism on Nygren look silly
If it wasn’t for Nygren, Celtic’s title defence would be all but over. The Swedish midfielder has scored 14 goals in the Scottish Premiership so far, making him the Hoops’ top marksman.
As well as his goals, Nygren has created four assists for his Celtic teammates. From 70 shots, 43% of those have been on target as the creative midfielder proves his threat to the opposition. [Fotmob]
On top of all that, here are some other stats about Nygren that will make Bonner wish he hadn’t opened his mouth too soon.
- Expected goals (xG): 10.23
- xG on target (xGOT): 14.12
- Non-penalty xG: 10.23
- Expected assists (xA): 5.55
- Successful passes: 756
- Successful passes %: 82.5%
- Touches: 1,317
- Touches in opposition box: 107
Bear in mind, those stats are only for the Scottish Premiership, let’s not forget Nygren’s goals in Europe as Celtic beat Feyenoord, Sturm Graz and Utrecht.
And let’s not forget, that in Celtic’s blazing comeback against Rangers, Nygren assisted for Kieran Tierney’s goal which sparked the Hoops’ fightback.
We bet Bonner wishes he kept quiet now.
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