‘No Thought In His Head’ – Celtic Star Must Change Game Feels Ex-Scotland Man | OneFootball

‘No Thought In His Head’ – Celtic Star Must Change Game Feels Ex-Scotland Man | OneFootball

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·15 September 2025

‘No Thought In His Head’ – Celtic Star Must Change Game Feels Ex-Scotland Man

Article image:‘No Thought In His Head’ – Celtic Star Must Change Game Feels Ex-Scotland Man

Stu Forster/Getty Images

Former Scotland striker Ross McCormack believes that Celtic summer signing Michel-Ange Balikwisha needs to be driving at defenders to help the Bhoys be quicker in attack.


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In Sunday’s 2-1 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, the defending champions had to wait until the 96th minute to find the winning goal via a penalty from new signing Kelechi Iheanacho.

Fellow new boy Balikwisha also played against Killie, but he is yet to last 90 minutes for Celtic, a fact that McCormack feels is due to his game on the pitch.

Pointing towards Sebastian Tounekti, Balikwisha’s partner down the other side of the attack, McCormack insisted that the 23-year-old has still looked better in flashes.

But according to McCormack, the problem lies with Balikwisha, who lacks that much-needed thought in his head to drive at the defender and rather, takes the easy way out by passing the ball back to the full-backs rather than commit any mistakes.

Article image:‘No Thought In His Head’ – Celtic Star Must Change Game Feels Ex-Scotland Man

“Tounekti, the winger, he has looked in flashes that he has got something”, McCormack said, during the Killie game, on Clyde 1’s Superscoreboard (6.33).

“But the other winger, Balikwisha, he is still for me, is looking to do exactly what he was doing at Ibrox.

“There is no thought in his head whatsoever of driving at anyone when he gets the ball.

“It is just so easy – turn back, play it back to the full-back, not want to make any mistakes.

“It needs to be better, it needs to be quicker for Celtic.”

Article image:‘No Thought In His Head’ – Celtic Star Must Change Game Feels Ex-Scotland Man

Celtic pursued Balikwisha for a lengthy period of time but eventually overcame internal issues related to the player’s situation to eventually seal the deal.

Brendan Rodgers’ side sit at the top of the Scottish Premiership table after picking up 13 points from their first five games.

Celtic will kick off their Europa League campaign next week, with a trip to Serbia to face Red Star Belgrade.

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