Celtic pundit Stevie Mullen has talked about Nir Bitton and one of his weaknesses that could get exploited against Hibernian.
Mullen was a guest on the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Parkhead-based club. Mullen talked about how Celtic should line up against Hibernian and touched on one of his weaknesses that was exploited against Scotland in midweek, claiming his lack of pace can get exploited against Hibs.
Bitton had recently featured for Israel against Scotland in the UEFA Nations League. Israel won the game 1-0 and Bitton had played in a back-three. Ryan Christie and Callum McGregor had featured against him (as per WhoScored).
Mullen believes that Bitton’s lack of pace was evident against Scotland and that could be a concern at the weekend.
Is it a risk to play Bitton against Hibernian?
Yes
No
He said: “Scotland attacked constantly against Nir Bitton because his lack of pace was really, really alarming last night. The amount of times that Ryan Christie just went past him. That would be a real worry knowing the pace that Hibernian have.”
TIF Thoughts on Stevie Mullen’s comments regarding Nir Bitton…
Bitton has made four Premiership appearances this season as well as two Europa League outings in the group stages of the competition (as per Transfermarkt).
For his performances in the league, the 29-year-old Israeli has picked up a rating of 7.18/10 for the Bhoys. He has been dribbled past 0.5 times per game this season (as per WhoScored). Only eight players have been dribbled past more often than Bitton, though none of those players are regular centre-backs for Celtic – and suggests that it can indeed be easy to go past him, as Mullen points out.
Therefore, playing him against Hibs might well prove to be a risk for the Bhoys.