“Bench him” – Celtic podcaster makes bold Kyogo claim

I can’t wait for the domestic season to get underway again. Don’t get me wrong, I like seeing Scotland do well but nothing beats the bread and butter of watching Celtic week in, week out.

And as we look forward to visiting a tough venue this Saturday against the in form Motherwell, Paul John Dykes of A Celtic State of Mind made a bold claim, (or is it offered advice?) to Ange Postecoglou that made me break out in a cold sweat.

Dykes said that he would be looking to protect our star man Kyogo in favour of giving Giakoumakis a run out on Saturday, but how do we accommodate that?

Move Kyogo to the left?

No. Dykes was far more brutal than that, “We’ve got players like Kyogo and Rogic that have travelled thousands of miles and then they’re coming back to training tomorrow to prepare for Saturday’s game against Motherwell.

“And I’m wondering, looking at the kind of opportunities, and hopefully, hitting the ground running after the international break.

“Is this is an opportunity, would it be a wise move, to perhaps bench Kyogo for the game against Motherwell and introduce the Giakoumakis and give him the opportunity simply because the international exertions?

“But on the subject of this we did get a fleeting appearance from him against Bayer Leverkusen.

“He looks like a completely different package, which I think is useful for Celtic. Again how on earth are we going to get him up to match fitness?

“I mean I think it’s absurd that we’ve signed a player who, seven weeks later, isn’t match fit anyway but how do we get him to that level if we don’t give him games?

“We can’t move Kyogo to the left. I think that much is clear. We can’t move him to the left, he’s far less effective.

“We’ve got to play Kyogo through the middle when fit.

“But I think when we get the opportunity, and I think Saturday is an opportunity, bench him, and he’s always tremendous option on the bench.”

No normally I would be in favour of resting our top players but only if we can afford to.

We have seen how the team functions without Kyogo and it is not pretty.

Will Ange be of a mind to leave Kyogo on the sidelines in such a huge game? I personally hope not.

Play Kyogo. Get a couple of goals then take him off.

We can’t afford to not play him. We can’t afford to drop more points.