OPINION
Brendan Rodgers must brutally axe Jozo Simunovic from Celtic’s first-team after the centre-back put in yet another error-filled display against Zenit St Petersburg on Thursday.
The Russian giants destroyed the Hoops 3-0 in their Europa League clash to end Celtic’s participation in the tournament for this season.
Several players under-performed for the Bhoys during that game and will no doubt need to prove they belong at the club in the coming weeks by putting in impressive displays.
However, Simunvoic should not be given another chance in the first-team anytime soon in order to redeem himself, as he has already proven this season that his incapable of playing to the standard required of him.
The defender has made 25 appearances across all competitions this season and in the majority of his outings has failed to impress.
In fact Simunvoic was even axed by Rodgers in December, after the 4-0 Scottish Premiership loss to Hearts, but since returning to the fold, is yet to show why his manager decided to give him another chance.
The 23-year-old defender’s display against Zenit on Thursday should have caused Rodgers to regret not only playing him, but made him realise that he shouldn’t feature in any of the Hoops’ upcoming games.
Simunovic should have been marking Branislav Ivanovic when Zenit had a corner, but in the eighth minute of the game, the 23-year-old had already gone missing and left Ivanovic alone in the box.
The veteran defender took his opportunity to score a free header, which put his side 1-0 up in the fixture and sent them well of their way to knocking Celtic out of the tournament.
If the 23-year-old have been fulfilling his marking duties, the Hoops’ may not have conceded so early and may have been able to grab a foothold in the game, which would have given them some chance of getting a result.
While letting a goal in early shouldn’t have led to the Hoops’ collapsing in the game, Simunovic’s mistake instantly wiped out all his side’s good work from the first leg.
Callum McGregor scored the only goal of the first leg to give the Hoops a 1-0 lead to protect in Thursday’s game, and you think the defender would have been able to manage to shield that lead for at least 10 minutes.
Therefore after letting his side down with yet another calamitous display, Rodgers must axe Simunovic from his first-team plans immediately if he wants to have any success in the second half of the season.