Former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson has come to the defence of Arne Engels, discussing how he would approach the Belgian’s recent poor run of form.
Having started Celtic’s last four games before Saturday’s 5-0 win over Ross County at Celtic Park, Arne Engels has been a consistent presence in the team despite only joining in the summer.
Ferguson was keen to highlight this fact in his defence of the Belgian.
Ferguson said: (Go Radio), “In terms of Engels, I say this to a lot of people. This is a tough place to come and play your football in Scotland.
“Look, the quality might not be as high as other leagues. But, I tell you what, see when you come up against these teams, certainly when you go away from home, they are tough games. People are desperate to beat you.
“Plus, the amount of responsibility that goes on you. The expectation on you to win football games. Maybe Engels hasn’t been used to that before and it may take him a bit of time. But you can see the young guy has got quality.
“He is just going through one of those times where he has had a few off games. Sometimes, it might be great to take him out of the limelight for two or three games. Bring him on, and start to get his confidence back up. But you can see he has quality the young man.”
Blackpool manager Barry Ferguson
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At just 21 years old, Engels is still a young midfielder with plenty of growth ahead.
He is still learning his role in the Celtic team, despite having played a lot of football for Augsburg.
However, the pressure at Celtic is far greater, with the expectation to win week in and week out.
Time out of the team seems to be exactly what Engels needs, with the opportunity to come off the bench and prove himself.
He can learn from others like Paulo Bernardo and Luke McCowan, who have had to bide their time off the bench in recent months.
Saturday’s 5-0 win over Ross County is a sign that both are now ready to start ahead of Engels, who has been frustrating in recent weeks despite a promising start that saw him score goals against Hearts and Slovan Bratislava at Celtic Park.
