IS IT TIME TO BRING IN SHIN YAMADA FROM THE COLD?
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Celtic’s win last night was a great result, but it came at a price.
Alistair Johnston, Cameron Carter-Vickers and most pertinently for Shin Yamada, Kelechi Iheanacho all picked up injuries.
Johnston and Iheanacho will miss this Sunday’s match against Hearts. If I was a betting man (unfortunately living in Japan means I’m not allowed to) I’d wager that Carter-Vickers also misses out.
Daizen Maeda is also coming back from injury, so his role is also up for debate.
So, with one, possibly two of our preferred striking options out, does this leave a chance for Shin Yamada to step in?
Is Shin Yamada Celtic Class? We Won’t Know Until We Give Him a Try
Johnny Kenny performed admirably last night. Though he didn’t get on the scoresheet, he put in very hard shift, and worked tirelessly under very difficult circumstances.
On a night when the whole team had to step up and show they have the necessary character to play for Celtic, he certainly wasn’t found wanting.
However, do I think, ultimately that Kenny is good enough to be a Celtic player in the long term?
Sadly, no I don’t.
He is now in his 4th season as a Celtic player (yes, he did spend a significant portion of that time on loan, but I think that’s a side issue).
Ultimately, I think if we were going to see that spark that tells us “This guy has what it takes to be a Celtic striker” we would have seen it by now.
Afterall, we decided in a little over 18 months that Adam Idah didn’t have it, and let him go.
Yamada hasn’t had a chance yet. Starting him on Sunday is probably too risky for a player so short of game time lately. And as I said, regardless of whatever misgivings I may have about the long-term viability of Johnny Kenny as a Celtic frontman, he did enough last night to start on Sunday, if Daizen Maeda isn’t fully fit.
At the very least though, I would expect Shin Yamada to be on the bench. Brendan Rodgers made a couple of bold choices with his team selection last night. The inclusion of Arne Engels in particular seemed to pay dividends.
Hearts on Sunday once again calls for brave choices. I don’t know what the issue is that Brendan Rodgers has with Shin Yamada, or Hayato Inamura for that matter.
My wife is also wondering what he’s got against Hondas, since she’s the proud owner of one, but that’s another story!
In all honesty, whether its attitude, ability, or style of play I don’t really care, the manager needs to set that aside.
Leaving one of the top goalscorers of last year in the J-League to rot on the sidelines while Celtic’s strikers consistently fire blanks on the park (we needed a defender and a midfielder to get the job done last night) just doesn’t make sense.
Shin deserves a chance, and the manager needs to set his ego aside and admit that maybe, just maybe, its time to bring our latest Japanese striker in from the cold, and give him a shot at solving our goalscoring dilemma.
