Martin O’Neill has challenged Sebastian Tounekti to take inspiration from Yang Hyun-jun as Celtic prepare to cope without their in-form South Korean winger.
Yang has been one of Celtic’s standout performers during the opening weeks of the season, but the Hoops must now find a way to replace him as he heads off with South Korea for the Asian Games.
The tournament carries significant importance for Yang and his teammates, with victory meaning they would be exempt from South Korea’s mandatory national service.
The winger is heading into the tournament in arguably the best form of his Celtic career, having scored twice and provided an assist in seven appearances.
His absence leaves O’Neill with a significant hole to fill, with the Celtic boss now looking towards the other wide options in his squad.
One of those is Tounekti, who has already shown flashes of his ability since arriving at Parkhead.
O’Neill believes the Tunisia international can learn from Yang and has challenged him to emulate the qualities that have made his teammate such an important player for Celtic.
“Seb’s good, he’s got really good ability around the edge of the penalty box,” O’Neill said. “The thing I like about him is that he can go both ways.
“Sometimes there’s a bit of frustration, but there’ll always be a bit of frustration with wide players who might lose the ball once or twice.
“The most important thing to tell wide players is if they can go past people, just keep doing it.
“And that’s an easy comment for a manager to make, or a coach to make to them, but it’s different when you’ve lost it two times on the trot, and the crowd then start to get really anxious, particularly at home, and you think, well the next time I think I’ll just lay it off.
“So I don’t want that, I want to still encourage people to go past them.
“And when he comes inside, as he scored against Kilmarnock, he can do that. He’s missed the chance on Saturday night, and when he’s in and around the edge of the box, he can actually check outside and put it across.
“So it’s a matter of keep encouraging him, and while he probably sees at the moment that Yang has done exceptionally well, and Yang does great work for us as well when we don’t have the ball.
“Those are the things that I think Seb can pick up on and can learn.
“That should be his aim [to emulate Yang]. I think Seb has natural talent. I think it’s the other parts of the game that I think he’s got to have a wider picture, but hopefully that will come.” [TCW]
Tounekti has now been handed a clear target by his manager as Celtic prepare for a demanding run of fixtures without Yang.
With the Hoops facing St Johnstone, Rangers twice and Ferencváros in the coming days, O’Neill will need his alternative attacking options to step up.
And for Tounekti, the opportunity is there to show he can provide Celtic with the same threat that Yang has offered in recent weeks.
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One Response
Think most of us doubted Yang had the ability to be an important player, he has well proved us wrong. Let’s hope Tounetki can do the same, good luck lad!