Celtic kicked off their defence of the Scottish Premiership title with a dramatic 1-0 win over St Mirren at Parkhead in their opening match on Sunday evening.
Luke McCowan scored the goal of the game for Brendan Rodgers’ side, as he came off the bench to fire into the bottom corner, via a deflection, from the edge of the box.
The Scottish midfielder saved the Hoops from drawing a blank on the opening day, as they had looked rather blunt at the top end of the pitch in the 86 minutes that preceded his strike.
Adam Idah was selected to start as the centre-forward for the Premiership champions ahead of new signing Shin Yamada and Johnny Kenny, and he failed to justify his inclusion.
Adam Idah’s disappointing showing against St Mirren
The Ireland international was provided with a big chance to show the supporters that he has what it takes to be the main number nine for Celtic, but he failed to take it.
Idah had a huge opportunity to open the scoring from close range in the second half and rattled his effort off the past, albeit from a fairly tight angle, whilst the striker failed to score with his other three shots on goal.
The 6 foot 3 forward did with both of his aerial duels, to his credit, but the former Norwich man also lost four of his five duels on the deck and failed to complete his only attempted dribble.
It was a blunt performance from the Irish striker, who may have harmed his chances of keeping his place in the XI, but he was far from the only disappointing performer, as Benjamin Nygren also struggled on his debut.
Why Celtic should drop Benjamin Nygren
Rodgers must ruthlessly drop the Swedish central midfielder for the trip to Aberdeen next Sunday because he was just as bad as Idah against St Mirren.
The left-footed summer signing was picked over Arne Engels in midfield and failed to justify his inclusion, with an awkward-looking showing in the middle of the park.
Nygren appeared to trip over his own feet a few too many times, with Sky Sports pundit Chris Sutton describing a few of his touches as “dreadful” during commentary.
Like Idah, the 24-year-old attacker also fired a shot against the post, although his was via a save from Shamal George, and had two shots on target without scoring.
|
Vs St Mirren |
Benjamin Nygren |
|---|---|
|
Minutes |
78 |
|
Big chances created |
0 |
|
Shots on target |
2 |
|
Accurate crosses |
1/8 |
|
Successful dribbles |
0/1 |
|
Ground duels won |
1/5 |
|
Aerial duels won |
1/4 |
As you can see in the table above, Nygren was too much of a lightweight in midfield for Celtic, as he lost 77% of his overall duels, whilst Idah, at least, was dominant aerially.
This shows that he was just as bad as the Irish forward because he was even worse in duels and only came slightly closer to scoring than the striker with his shot that was saved.
Hoops supporters also may not want to see too many more corners from the Sweden international, as he only completed one of his eight attempted crosses from set-pieces and open play combined.
Nygren may just need some time to settle in and adapt to Glasgow and Scottish football before Celtic fans can see the best of him on the pitch, which is why it may be best for Rodgers to place him on the bench for the time being.
Engels delivered ten goals and 13 assists in his debut campaign in Scotland, and McCowan won the game with his strike off the bench on Sunday. They are both suitable options to come in and replace Nygren as a starter for the trip to Aberdeen next weekend.
