“I think there’s also something interesting going on” – Tom English’s remarkable Kyogo theory

The Kyogo Furuhashi debate is something that will rumble on as long as there is dubiety about how Ange Postecoglou will accommodate both the Japanese striker and Giorgos Giakoumakis in the same team.

If Giakoumakis starts that means Kyogo is rested or is forced out wide.

And playing the tricky striker out in the peripherals lessens his impact on the game but does give the forward line a different and more powerful dimension with the Greek leading the line.

But so far, every Celtic fan agrees that Kyogo must play through the middle. Absolutely no question.

And to back that assertion up, Tom English hit out with a remarkable stat on the BBC Sportsound podcast.

Discussing Kyogo’s importance to the team, English said, “I think there’s also something interesting going on about Kyogo.

“If you look at Celtic they’ve dropped points in five live league games so far.

“Kyogo didn’t start four of those. And the other one, he started wide left against Rangers. The game that they lost.

“So when he doesn’t play through the middle, they’ve got a problem.

“The dependency on Kyogo in the Celtic team is huge.

“He’s a terrific player, but when he’s not playing through the middle, Celtic are not the same force.”

That is a brilliant, but scary, stat.

It tells you that Celtic are pretty much a one dimensional side.

And it also tells the opposition that if you nullify Kyogo, you nullify Celtic. And that is not good.

We need to be better than that.

Celtic should not need to rely on one player to secure victories in the Scottish league.

In fact, I’ll go one better than that. Celtic should have a team full of match winners.

From the goalkeeper to the striker they should all play their part.

And looking at that stat from English, that is something that may worry the Celtic boss.

This article was originally posted here

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