Why O’Neill should drop Celtic’s 3/10 star after Hibernian

Celtic maintained their four-point lead on the high of the Scottish Premiership desk with a 2-1 win in opposition to Hibernian at Easter Highway on Sunday afternoon.

The Hoops bought off to the worst doable begin when Owen Elding struck to make it 1-0 within the second minute of the sport, however they shortly turned it round earlier than half-time.

An personal aim from Jason Kerr and a superb end from Camilo Duran ensured that the league leaders claimed all three factors, as they handled strain from the house aspect within the second half.

That opening aim from Hibs led to some criticism of the Hoops defence, although, as Dane Murray was one of many gamers caught out by the house staff’s fast pondering.

Why Dane Murray’s Hibernian efficiency deserves reward

The Scottish central defender held his place subsequent to Liam Scales in preparation to arrange for the free-kick, as a substitute of shuffling throughout to cowl the house left by Colby Donovan.

Sadly, Benjamin Nygren additionally switched off and allowed Elding to run off the again of him, which allowed the striker to use the house left by Murray and make it 1-0.

While he might have handled that scenario higher, the academy graduate deserves reward for a way he responded to that second, as he went on to provide an aerially dominant show on the again.

Murray gained 4 of his six aerial duels, regardless of the wind making it tough for defenders from crosses and lengthy balls, which meant that the Hoops weren’t caught out from direct play by Hibs too usually.

The Scottish ace was additionally stable sufficient with the ball at his toes for Celtic, finishing 70 of his 81 tried passes, and didn’t make any errors that immediately led to photographs for the opposition with the ball.

Celtic should drop 3/10 flop who was worse than Murray

While Murray might have achieved higher in some situations within the sport, there was one other Celtic participant who carried out even worse than him on Sunday.

Kasper Hogh, who joined from Bodo/Glimt for £11m in the summertime, was chosen to begin within the centre-forward place for the Scottish giants, with Camilo Duran shifted out to the suitable and Callum Osmand on the left flank.

It was an fascinating name by Martin O’Neill to begin the Denmark worldwide after he had come off the bench within the earlier two matches, after being substituted at half-time in opposition to Benfica within the sport earlier than these clashes.

Sadly, the big-money summer season signing did not justify the supervisor’s religion in him, as he delivered an extremely underwhelming show up entrance at Easter Highway, and he ought to now be dropped.

REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

In 64 minutes on the pitch in opposition to Hibs, Hogh solely had 18 touches of the ball and misplaced possession 5 instances, each 3.6 touches on common, together with simply two touches of the ball within the second half of the sport.

The 25-year-old marksman can’t blame a scarcity of service for his efficiency, although, as a result of he missed two ‘huge possibilities’ to seek out the again of the web for Celtic.

His greatest probability got here when Duran flicked a ball into his path within the six-yard field and the striker took a poor contact earlier than seeing his shot smothered by the goalkeeper from shut vary.

Hogh was additionally caught on his heels when Osmand performed a wonderful outdoors of the boot cross to the again submit to the centre-forward, who didn’t react in time to make contact with the ball.

REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

The Danish attacker solely accomplished seven passes and did not create any possibilities for his teammates on high of his ending woes, which exhibits that he was completely ineffective as an attacking power.

He has now failed to attain in 16 successive matches for membership and nation since his hat-trick in opposition to Kilmarnock in solely his second outing for the Scottish giants.

Murray, no less than, had some optimistic contributions to the sport along with his defensive work and his passes, which is why Hogh, who struggled in all aspects of the sport, was even worse than the defender.

It’s now right down to O’Neill to drop the Dane from the beginning line-up in order that Duran can play centrally and Haissem Hassan can begin on the suitable aspect of the assault.