Celtic reacted brilliantly to their disappointing Old Firm defeat by bouncing back with a 3-0 win over St Mirren at Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
The Hoops had been beaten 3-0 by Rangers at Ibrox in their previous match and Brendan Rodgers will have demanded an instant response from the group, which is exactly what he got.
Nicolas Kuhn found the back of the net twice, either side of a header from Auston Trusty, to secure all three points for the league leaders this weekend.
Nicolas Kuhn’s performance against St Mirren
The German forward scored two of the team’s three goals in the match and will grab the headlines with his display for that very reason, despite them both coming courtesy of opposition mistakes.
Kuhn and Celtic’s opening goal in the game came from a cross from Daizen Maeda that found the left-footed star in the box, with his effort essentially palmed backward into his own net by Zac Hemming, who should have done better.
His second goal came in the second half after the St Mirren defence and goalkeeper failed to deal with a loose ball in the six-yard box, which allowed the winger to tap into an empty net from close range.
Kuhn, who missed a ‘big chance’, also made two key passes and created one ‘big chance’ for his teammates, but was not rewarded with an assist for his creative efforts on the right flank.
The former Rapid Vienna star was not the only strong performer for Celtic on Sunday, however, as central defender Auston Trusty proved Rodgers’ Old Firm decision all wrong.
Auston Trusty proved Brendan Rodgers wrong
Celtic’s manager opted to go with Liam Scales on the left side of the defence next to Cameron Carter-Vickers in the 3-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox, and it turned out to be a misstep from the boss.
The Irish dud only completed 85% of his attempted passes in the match and was directly at fault for the opening goal from Ianis Hagi, as he smashed a pass into no man’s land in midfield, leading to the Rangers star’s strike from distance.
Trusty, who landed an 8/10 player rating from 67HailHail, stepped back into the defence and produced an excellent all-round display to prove that he should not have been left out of the XI in the Old Firm.
The USA international was key to the dominant performance from Celtic against St Mirren with the most touches (131) in the match and a pass completion rate of 88%, to go along with scoring the second goal.
|
Stats |
Scales vs Rangers |
Trusty vs St Mirren |
|---|---|---|
|
Clearances |
7 |
10 |
|
Blocks |
1 |
3 |
|
Dribbled past |
1x |
0x |
|
Duels won |
7 |
11 |
|
Pass accuracy |
85% |
88% |
|
Stats via Sofascore |
||
As you can see in the table above, Trusty’s play on and off the ball was significantly better than what Scales, who had a nightmare in the Old Firm, produced on Thursday.
The American giant did not allow any opposition players to dribble past him and was dominant in his duels, winning 11, to go along with three blocks to prevent Kasper Schmeichel from being worked.
Rodgers may now be regretting his decision to go with the Irishman over the former Sheffield United titan for that match, as the result could have been different if he had gone with the left-footed colossus alongside Carter-Vickers for that game – given his improved play on the ball could have prevented Hagi’s goal.
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The Celtic manager should now think twice before deciding to drop Trusty in the club’s next big match, whether that is domestically or in Europe.