Football writer Tony Haggerty has slammed Celtic forward Liel Abada after his display in the club’s dramatic recent victory.
In the Scottish Premiership this weekend, the Bhoys travelled to St Johnstone away from home. The Hoops led 1-0 deep into the match after a Sead Haksabanovic cross was deflected in for an own goal off Andrew Considine.
However, the home side then netted a late equaliser thanks to Alex Mitchell, only for Giorgos Giakoumakis to then net a winner with what was essentially the last kick of the game.
Amid all the drama, it seems as though one Celtic man stood out – but for all the wrong reasons. Indeed, in the player ratings for The Celtic Way, Haggerty singled out a 6/10 Abada for his efforts, saying he was ‘not his usual self’.
He wrote: “The Israeli was guilty of missing an absolute cinch after just eight minutes when he skewed high and wide with the goal gaping following Jota’s low cross.
“His whole game seemed to be affected by that moment and he was not his usual self and was subdued for large parts of the contest.
“He also clipped the top of the crossbar with a cross-cum-shot in 28 minutes and missed another two clear-cut opportunities after the break and never quite influenced proceedings the way he usually can.”
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TIF Thoughts on Liel Abada and Celtic…
To be fair, it seems though SofaScore stats back up what Haggerty had to say about the Celtic man.
Indeed, Abada finished the game with just a 72% pass success rate, lost possession 11 times, completed zero of three attempted crosses and missed two big chances.
However, what was perhaps most damning on the day was the fact that as an attacking player, he had fewer touches (27) than Bhoys goalkeeper Joe Hart (36), who was largely a bystander in the first half.
Those two big chances missed by Abada could have proven to be extremely costly, but the Celtic man was bailed out by teammate Giakoumakis after he netted a 95th-minute winner.
All in all, Celtic got away with it, though it was a day to forget for the Israeli.