Celtic winger Mikey Johnston has made his way back into the first-team fold in recent weeks amid injuries to some key players. The Irishman has started the last two games but hasn’t captured the imagination to any extent.
He was handed his first start in 22 months against Hibernian last week before once more getting the nod away at Rugby Park on Sunday. His manager, though, publicly criticised him after the clash with the Hibees.
Former Celtic hero and now pundit, Chris Sutton, thinks this could go either way. He said (Sky Sports via Football Scotland): “I don’t know Mikey personally but he seems to be a confidence player. I suppose we are all confidence players to some extent but I don’t know how he will handle that (public criticism).”
If Johnston is indeed a ‘confidence’ player, he doesn’t have much at the minute. He impressed against St. Johnstone over a week ago but since then, he has been poor.
Brendan Rodgers will be hotly anticipating the returns of Daizen Maeda and Liel Abada from injury to bring some real quality and firepower to the wide areas. Both have been hugely missed in recent months, and the reliance on players like Johnston has in no way benefitted the bhoys.
I’ve seen worse forwards at Celtic than Mikey Johnston (not many though) but I can’t remember any player with so little game intelligence.
He’s been given far more opportunities than most.
Times up.