OPINION
Celtic flyer Jonny Hayes was at his best against Valencia on Thursday and put in an impressive display despite his side losing 1-0.
The 31-year-old was deployed as a left-back against Valencia and he looked good at the back and going forward.
Throughout the clash with Valencia, Hayes darted up and down the left flank and stood out ahead of his teammates for all the right reasons.
While the 31-year-old could arguably take some blame for being caught out at the far post for Valencia’s only goal of the match, it was only a small blip on what was a very good showing for the player.
Hayes looked so good against Valencia that he even wowed BBC pundit Tam McManus enough for him to take to his personal Twitter account to highlight the player’s performance.
https://twitter.com/The_Tman10/status/1098668449792962560
“Johnny Hayes now deserves a run at left back until KT (Kieran Tierney) is back,” tweeted the pundit.
“Had a great game. He has been up and down that left flank all game and used ball intelligently.”
While McManus backed Hayes to get a run in the team at left-back until Tierney is back from injury, it seems the pundit wasn’t aware that the flyer could be ready to face Motherwell on Sunday.
Brendan Rodgers previously revealed that Tierney had a chance of featuring in the Hoops’ next league clash as he was looking strong in training.
“So we would hope, maybe by Motherwell at the weekend, he would be in with a chance,” said the Celtic manager, as quoted by the Evening Times.
“We will assess that but he’s looking very strong. He’s looking back to the running ability he showed before the injury.”
It makes sense for Tierney to come straight back into the first-team if he is available, but that doesn’t mean Hayes should lose his place in the starting line-up after what was a good performance by him.
Rodgers must reward Hayes’ effort by sticking with him for the clash with Motherwell by making a simple switch.
The 31-year-old is capable of playing on either flank in midfield and could easily feature instead of Ryan Christie or James Forrest – as while the duo show signs of their talent on Thursday, they weren’t as good as Hayes was.
Therefore with Hayes having the versatility in order to move to another position in Celtic’s team for the Motherwell clash, Rodgers must and can easily stick with the player.