Celtic fans have taken to Twitter to savage Kristoffer Ajer for his first half performance against Hibernian on Saturday.
The 21-year-old ace opened the scoring for the home team by putting the ball into his own net, and it’s safe to say that many Hoops fans were left less than impressed with his contribution.
The big Norwegian was caught out by a Hibs cross that he could do little about, other than deflect it past a helpless Fraser Forster, and it got a lot of supporters fuming about his proclivity for disastrous moments.
That’s not the first time that Ajer’s defensive work has been called into question this season, with James McFadden slamming him for a “terrible” decision in the 1-1 Europa League draw against Rennes earlier in the campaign, as quoted by the Daily Star.
But this latest howler will have done little to convince a Parkhead fanbase who are desperate for a ninth league title in a row.
Here are some of the best tweets from supporters.
https://twitter.com/briantaylor_98/status/1177910832539357184?s=20
https://twitter.com/MirrenGallagher/status/1177910705535803392?s=20
Shameful defending from Bolingoli and, particularly, Ajer. Celtic need to get to work now.
— Ped (@BigBuck_78) September 28, 2019
The truth of the matter is that Ajer hasn’t actually been that bad so far this term.
So far he has registered a defensive duel win rate of 69.2%, as well as winning 67.1% of his aerial duels, and winning 55.9% of his sliding tackles, as per Wyscout.
To get a full understanding of what those numbers mean in the context of real life, it is perhaps necessary to compare this stats to those of his usual defensive partner Christopher Jullien.
The Frenchman has received high praise from Chris Sutton, as reported in the Scottish Sun, who has described him as “phenomenal”, and yet his numbers aren’t too much more awe-inspiring than Ajer’s.
Ajer turning his back on that, poor.
— Brian Doyle (@Stoneysnapper) September 28, 2019
OMG WTF Ajer ?? #HIBCEL
— ?ó??í??? ????????? (@PublicDomain5) September 28, 2019
The 26-year-old has registered a defensive duel win rate of 69.4%, just 0.2% better than Ajer, as well as an aerial duel win rate of 70.1%, just 4% better, and completing 60.5% of his sliding tackles, less than 5% better than Ajer’s record, as per Wyscout.
He has been better than his young partner, yes, but not exceptionally so, and the criticism Ajer is coming in for this afternoon shows that us football fans have a tendency to ignore the bigger picture in favour of the standout moments that grab the headlines.
All in all, it is perhaps a little unfair on the Scandinavian.
Ajer again. His concentration is awful just now.
— Jamie (@Jamie8419) September 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/kebo1888/status/1177910657548787713?s=20