£11m Celtic Star Faces Shock Rangers Role After Blast: Do The Hoops Need To Fix Their Service Before Judging Him? | OneFootball

Celtic escaped McDiarmid Park with a 1-0 win over St Johnstone on Wednesday, but Martin O’Neill left Perth unhappy with his side’s failure to finish the chances it created. Mika Baur supplied the decisive 52nd-minute goal, yet the manager wanted far more from his attacking players after Kasper Høgh saw efforts stopped during a match that could have been settled much earlier.

Michael Ross reported for Celts Are Here on September 10 that O’Neill challenged his forwards to take more responsibility and create room rather than wait for perfect deliveries. O’Neill even joked that, at 74, he could have scored one himself. His remarks raised questions about the £11 million Danish forward’s form, especially with Camilo Durán pushing for a central role.

Kris Boyd defended Høgh’s movement, saying the 25-year-old constantly searches for space and pulls away from defenders so he can attack the box. That matters. A centre-forward can make the right run and still receive nothing useful if the winger delays the pass.

Celtic’s wide players, in Boyd’s view, often take too many touches before delivering, allowing defenders to retreat and compress the space Høgh wants to attack. The striker then receives the ball only after the opening has disappeared. That distinction matters here. Boyd’s point about early delivery feels particularly relevant against organised defences that protect the middle quickly.

Hogh had an effort or two kept out and O’Neill was left annoyed by his side’s lack of cutting edge. He said: “I didn’t think it was the fact, for instance, Seb (Tounekti) was getting wide and causing problems.

“You can’t just put the ball on a plate for people. They have to make room for themselves to try and score a goal.

“Either you whip things across the box, or you try and chip a few things. At the end of it all, you know, I said to the boys in the dressing room that I’m 74 years of age and I think I could have scored a goal at some stage or another. That’s a major exaggeration.”

The boss’s comments were an indirect question of Hogh’s progress, but former Rangers attacker Kris Boyd sprang to the defence of the £ 11 million Dane.

Speaking on Sky Sports, Boyd insisted that the 25-year-old does need better service from the club’s wide players and that the work he does off the ball deserves more credit.

Boyd said: “It will be interesting to see what Martin makes of it all once he goes back and watches it again. He’s having a go at Kasper Hogh but we’ve been able to see it and look at the clips.

“When you look at Kasper Hogh, there’s one thing about him, and that’s that he never stops moving; he’s always on the go. Until he’s maybe done it two or three times. Because as soon as a winger goes touch, touch, touch. As a striker, you know the space is getting tighter and tighter.

“You want that ball early, so as soon as you have wingers who are touch, touch, touch, then as a striker you go, ‘Do you know what? I’m not moving any more’. And that’s what Martin O’Neill is talking about there – you had to put it on a sixpence for him.

“When you take touch, touch, touch, then that’s what happens. As a striker, you get frustrated. Martin played on the wing. I bet the first thing he was told is to get it off his feet and get that ball into the box. If the striker isn’t there, then you can have a go at them. But when your wingers are taking touch, touch, touch…

“I don’t see Kasper Hogh as a striker who will link the play.

“He takes himself away from it, to give himself as much space to come back across the front of defenders and go and attack it and that’s why I think Camilo Duran will play through the middle on Sunday (against Rangers). I just feel they’re in a far better place with Camilo.”

Celtic need to fix the service before judging Høgh

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – AUGUST 29: Kasper Hogh of Celtic is seen prior to the William Hill Premiership 2026/27 match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on August 29, 2026 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

O’Neill deserves credit for demanding more finishing from an £11m striker; Høgh cannot duck responsibility forever. Yet publicly singling him out after a win seems misplaced when the attacking structure itself creates problems. His “on a plate” remark suggests he wants greater self-reliance, but modern forwards still depend heavily on timing, width and delivery.

That is why Boyd’s argument is significant. Høgh’s movement becomes almost pointless when wingers hesitate, take another touch and let the back line reset. The striker gets blamed for not attacking space that has already vanished.

Durán may start through the middle against Rangers because his recent performances offer more direct impact, and Boyd clearly prefers that option. Still, replacing Høgh without fixing the service would tackle the symptom, not the cause. Celtic need quicker decisions outside before they decide their £11m centre-forward is the real problem.