Rodgers must drop Celtic ace who lost 73% duels

Celtic head into the ultimate worldwide break of the 12 months on a excessive after they beat Kilmarnock 2-0 away from house within the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.

The Hoops wanted to assert all three factors to maneuver again to the highest of the desk, after Aberdeen’s win over Dundee on Saturday, and that’s precisely what they did.

Callum McGregor opened the scoring for the away aspect within the first half when his tried cross evaded everybody, together with Robby McCrorie, and located the underside nook.

Nicolas Kuhn then made it 2-0 within the second half with a burst down the fitting flank that resulted in him with the ability to confidently place the ball into the again of the online from a decent angle on his left foot.

The German ahead has already recorded a double-double for targets and assists in all competitions this season, with ten goals and 11 assists in 17 appearances for Celtic.

He has emerged as a celebrity inside Brendan Rodgers’ workforce and got here up with one other massive second towards Kilmarnock to seal all three factors on Sunday.

One participant who did wrestle on the weekend at occasions, nevertheless, was central defender Liam Scales, who got here in for the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Liam Scales’ efficiency in numbers

The Eire worldwide was drafted again into the workforce after an damage to the American defender and performed alongside Auston Trusty, who was shifted over to the fitting centre-back position, on the again for Celtic.

Scales was partially at fault for the large early likelihood that was missed by Kilmarnock ahead Marley Watkins, after he stepped out of defence to get tight to his man, just for Watkins to run into the house that he left behind to go one-on-one with Kasper Schmeichel.

Fortunately, for Celtic and the Irish defender, the previous Norwich Metropolis and Bristol Metropolis marksman might solely hearth his shot off the submit and vast, as an alternative of making the most of the chance that was created by the centre-back’s poor resolution.

Scales, who made one other error that instantly led to a shot, didn’t do sufficient to guard his goalkeeper, who needed to make six saves to protect his clear sheet.

The left-footed dud did win ten of his 12 aerial duels all through the match, which exhibits that he was dominant within the air, however didn’t get shut sufficient to Kilmarnock’s attackers on the deck, successful only one floor duel because the hosts had 18 pictures and created two ‘massive probabilities’.

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He was removed from the one poor performer on the pitch for the Scottish giants, nevertheless, as centre-forward Adam Idah was even worse than the previous Aberdeen loanee.

Adam Idah’s efficiency towards Kilmarnock in numbers

The 6 foot 3 striker was handed simply his third start within the Premiership this season and it was an enormous alternative for him to indicate Rodgers that he deserves extra minutes on the pitch shifting ahead.

Kyogo Furuhashi has missed a whopping 12 ‘big chances’ and solely scored 4 targets in 11 appearances within the division this time period, which exhibits that the Japanese ahead can lose his place within the beginning XI.

Nonetheless, Idah must step up when probabilities to impress come his method and that was not the case in a poor displaying towards Kilmarnock on Sunday.

Enjoying on a synthetic pitch is rarely ultimate, after all, however the summer season signing from Norwich Metropolis didn’t modify to it and struggled badly all through the sport.

As you may see within the desk above, Idah was free together with his passing and failed to carry his personal in bodily duels towards the Kilmarnock defenders.

The 23-year-old light-weight additionally missed a ‘massive likelihood’ to open the scoring early on, when he couldn’t kind his ft out in time to get a clear connection on a cross from Daizen Maeda from shut vary.

Idah additionally failed to attach with two sensible crosses into the field, from Kuhn and McGregor, though the second went all the best way in anyway from the skipper.

The ex-Canaries ace, who misplaced possession a whopping 18 times from 41 touches, did create a ‘massive likelihood’ for Kuhn that didn’t register in an help however his all-round play, together with his struggles in entrance of aim and in duels, was even worse than Scales’.

Why Adam Idah must be dropped

Rodgers should now immediately bin the Eire worldwide from the beginning XI when the Hoops come again on the opposite aspect of the worldwide break, as he didn’t do sufficient to justify his continued choice within the workforce.

The truth is, Idah has not performed sufficient all through the 2024/25 marketing campaign to justify the large value that the Scottish giants reportedly paid to signal him on a everlasting foundation.

Sky Sports activities reported that Celtic agreed an initial fee of £8.5m to signal the striker and that it might rise to £9.5m with add-ons, which made it a possible club-record deal on the time, with Odsonne Edouard’s £9m move from PSG holding the document on the time.

Arne Engels was then introduced in for £11m from Augsburg however that also signifies that Idah might find yourself being the second-most costly signing within the membership’s historical past.

On the age of 23, the Irishman does have loads of time to come back good and show that he was definitely worth the cash spent on him, however the early indicators haven’t been overly promising.

As you may see within the desk above, Idah’s performances have declined since his preliminary spell on mortgage from Norwich within the second half of the 2023/24 marketing campaign.

He has scored much less regularly, missed ‘massive probabilities’ extra persistently, and failed to supply any assists up to now, albeit solely in a pattern measurement of eight video games.

There isn’t any must label the Irish marksman a flop but however Rodgers might want to see higher performances than the one he produced towards Kilmarnock to have the ability to belief him to start out week-in-week-out over Kyogo.

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