Worse than Scales: Rodgers must drop Celtic ace who lost 73% duels
Celtic head into the final international break of the year on a high after they beat Kilmarnock 2-0 away from home in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
The Hoops needed to claim all three points to move back to the top of the table, after Aberdeen’s win over Dundee on Saturday, and that is exactly what they did.
Callum McGregor opened the scoring for the away side in the first half when his attempted cross evaded everyone, including Robby McCrorie, and found the bottom corner.
Nicolas Kuhn then made it 2-0 in the second half with a burst down the right flank that resulted in him being able to confidently place the ball into the back of the net from a tight angle on his left foot.
The German forward has already recorded a double-double for goals and assists in all competitions this season, with ten goals and 11 assists in 17 appearances for Celtic.
He has emerged as a superstar within Brendan Rodgers’ team and came up with another big moment against Kilmarnock to seal all three points on Sunday.
One player who did struggle at the weekend at times, however, was central defender Liam Scales, who came in for the injured Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Liam Scales' performance in numbers
The Ireland international was drafted back into the team after an injury to the American defender and played alongside Auston Trusty, who was shifted over to the right centre-back role, at the back for Celtic.
Scales was partially at fault for the huge early chance that was missed by Kilmarnock forward Marley Watkins, after he stepped out of defence to get tight to his man, only for Watkins to run into the space that he left behind to go one-on-one with Kasper Schmeichel.
Thankfully, for Celtic and the Irish defender, the former Norwich City and Bristol City marksman could only fire his shot off the post and wide, instead of taking advantage of the opportunity that was created by the centre-back’s poor decision.
Scales, who made another error that directly led to a shot, did not do enough to protect his goalkeeper, who had to make six saves to preserve his clean sheet.
The left-footed dud did win ten of his 12 aerial duels throughout the match, which shows that he was dominant in the air, but did not get close enough to Kilmarnock’s attackers on the deck, winning just one ground duel as the hosts had 18 shots and created two ‘big chances’.
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He was far from the only poor performer on the pitch for the Scottish giants, however, as centre-forward Adam Idah was even worse than the former Aberdeen loanee.
Adam Idah's performance against Kilmarnock in numbers
The 6 foot 3 striker was handed just his third start in the Premiership this season and it was a huge opportunity for him to show Rodgers that he deserves more minutes on the pitch moving forward.
Kyogo Furuhashi has missed a whopping 12 ‘big chances’ and only scored four goals in 11 appearances in the division this term, which shows that the Japanese forward can lose his place in the starting XI.
However, Idah needs to step up when chances to impress come his way and that was not the case in a poor showing against Kilmarnock on Sunday.
Playing on an artificial pitch is never ideal, of course, but the summer signing from Norwich City did not adjust to it and struggled badly throughout the game.
Minutes played
63
Shots
2
Big chances missed
1
Pass accuracy
71%
Duels lost
8/11 (73%)
As you can see in the table above, Idah was loose with his passing and failed to hold his own in physical duels against the Kilmarnock defenders.
The 23-year-old lightweight also missed a ‘big chance’ to open the scoring early on, when he could not sort his feet out in time to get a clean connection on a cross from Daizen Maeda from close range.
Idah also failed to connect with two brilliant crosses into the box, from Kuhn and McGregor, although the second one went all the way in anyway from the skipper.
The ex-Canaries ace, who lost possession a whopping 18 times from 41 touches, did create a ‘big chance’ for Kuhn that did not register in an assist but his all-round play, with his struggles in front of goal and in duels, was even worse than Scales’.
Why Adam Idah should be dropped
Rodgers must now instantly bin the Ireland international from the starting XI when the Hoops come back on the other side of the international break, as he did not do enough to justify his continued selection in the team.
In fact, Idah has not done enough throughout the 2024/25 campaign to justify the huge price that the Scottish giants reportedly paid to sign him on a permanent basis.
Sky Sports reported that Celtic agreed an initial fee of £8.5m to sign the striker and that it could rise to £9.5m with add-ons, which made it a potential club-record deal at the time, with Odsonne Edouard’s £9m move from PSG holding the record at the time.
Arne Engels was then brought in for £11m from Augsburg but that still means that Idah could end up being the second-most expensive signing in the club’s history.
At the age of 23, the Irishman does have plenty of time to come good and prove that he was worth the money spent on him, but the early signs have not been overly promising.
Appearances
15
8
Goals
8
2
Big chances missed
7
4
Minutes per goal
76
136
Assists
2
0
As you can see in the table above, Idah’s performances have declined since his initial spell on loan from Norwich in the second half of the 2023/24 campaign.
He has scored less frequently, missed ‘big chances’ more consistently, and failed to provide any assists so far, albeit only in a sample size of eight games.
There is no need to label the Irish marksman a flop yet but Rodgers will need to see better performances than the one he produced against Kilmarnock to be able to trust him to start week-in-week-out over Kyogo.
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