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News
‘Excellent’… Brendan Rodgers now told to start 26-year-old Celtic player vs Kilmarnock again today
It looks like, from Wednesday night at least, that Brendan Rodgers’ stern words at McDiarmid Park have paid off for Celtic.
The Celtic manager pulled no punches last weekend as he told of his anger when he watched his team struggle to get out of first gear against the Perth side.
Those words seemed to have done the trick as players like Hyeongyu Oh shone and Tomoki Iwata stood out.
And it was the performance of Iwata against Hibs that really caught Peter Grant‘s eye this week.
The former Celtic hero said the Japan midfielder was brilliant in the 4-1 win and has told Rodgers that he must start him again today in Ayrshire.
Grant said [], “Iwata was excellent. But what I really liked about Iwata was because he doesn’t go too wide on either side.
“He’s always available for a pass, he knows where to break the game down.
“And you’ve got O’Riley and Callum [McGregor] getting forward having a strike at the goal and O’Riley scoring goals and is on fire. So that three, I don’t think will break up come the weekend.”
Tomoki Iwata could be really important for Celtic this month
With Brendan Rodgers looking for, and failing to find, a replacement for the injured Reo Hatate, the inclusion of Iwata against Hibs is a real timely boost for the Celtic manager.
With players like David Turnbull, Odin Thiago Holm and Paulo Bernardo all being rotated at various stages this season, it is clear that Rodgers doesn’t see any of these three as good enough to step into Hatate’s boots.
With Celtic having a hectic December schedule, Rodgers needs his midfield three firing and the inclusion of Iwata has certainly helped that.
As the sitting midfielder, the 26-year-old allowed McGregor to push forward with O’Riley on Wednesday night and it paid off as Celtic came out of the traps quickly.
They will need to do so again today to break down a Kilmarnock side who will be buoyed after their impressive win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie midweek.
Rodgers will also be keen to banish the memory of the early League Cup exit at the hands of Kilmarnock this season and unleashing Iwata on McInnes’ men will be crucial to that.
In other news, Celtic Predicted XI vs Kilmarnock… Brendan Rodgers makes two changes as 31-year-old gets his first start