Celtic responded brilliantly to their disappointing defeat to the Old Firm by bouncing back with a 3-0 win over St Mirren at Parkhead in Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
The Hoops were beaten 3-0 by Rangers at Ibrox in their previous game and Brendan Rodgers he will demand an immediate response from the group, which is exactly what he got.
Nicolas Kuhn hit the net twice, either side of Auston Trusty’s header, to secure all three points for the league leaders this weekend.
Nicolas Kuhn’s performance against St Mirren
The German striker scored two of the team’s three goals in the game and will therefore grab the headlines with his display, despite both coming thanks to mistakes by the opposition.
Kuhn and Celtic’s first goal of the game came after Daizen Maeda’s cross found the left-footed star in the penalty area and Zac Hemming, who should have done better, essentially sent it back into his own net.
His second goal came in the second half after St Mirren’s defense and goalkeeper failed to deal with a loose ball in the box, allowing the winger to tap into an empty net from close range.
Kuhn, who missed a ‘big opportunity’he also made two key passes and created one ‘big chance’ for his teammates, but was not rewarded with an assist for his creativity on the right flank.
However, the former Rapid Vienna star was not the only good performer for Celtic on Sunday, as centre-back Auston Trusty proved Rodgers’ Old Firm decision wrong.
Auston Trusty proved Brendan Rodgers wrong
The Celtic manager opted to go with Liam Scales on the left side of defense alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers in the 3-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox, and it proved to be the wrong move by the boss.
The Irish mulberry is just finished 85% of his pass attempts in the game and was directly responsible for Ianis Hagi’s opening goal, as he slotted a pass into no man’s land in midfield, leading to the Rangers star’s strike from distance.
Trusty, who landed 8/10 player rating from 67HailHailreturned to defense and produced an excellent all-round display to prove he should not have been left out of the Old Firm XI.
The American representative was key to Celtic’s dominant performance against St. Mirrena s the most touches (131) in the game and a passing rate of 88%, while scoring the second goal.
|
Statistics |
Scales vs Rangers |
Trusty v St Mirren |
|---|---|---|
|
Move apart |
7 |
10 |
|
Blocks |
1 |
3 |
|
He slipped through |
1x |
0x |
|
Matches won |
7 |
11 |
|
Adding accuracy |
85% |
88% |
As you can see in the table above, Trusty’s play on and off the ball was significantly better than what Scales, who had a nightmare at the Old Firm, did on Thursday.
The American giant did not allow the opposing players to dribble him and was dominant in his duels, winning 11 of them, to prevent the work of Kasper Schmeichel with three blocks.
Rodgers may now be regretting his decision to go with the Irishman against the former Sheffield United titan for that game, as the result could have been different had he gone with the left-wing colossus alongside Carter-Vickers for that game – given his improved ball play could prevent Hagi’s goal.
Connected
The Celtic manager should now think twice before deciding to drop Trusty in the club’s next big game, be it at home or in Europe.
