Successful Dribbles versus St Mirren – Yang 5 Forrest 0

Hyun-Jun Yang has enjoyed a positive start to his career in the East End of Glasgow playing for Celtic.

Providing a clever and crucial assist in Celtic’s 3-1 at Aberdeen all the way back in August, Yang has impressed and shown glimpses of the quality he possesses in his career so far playing for the Scottish Champions.

Such impressive cameos, along with injury to Liel Abada, resulted in the 21-year-old starting in the UEFA Champions League for the first time against Lazio.

A night that started full of optimism for Celtic and Yang ended in disappointment for both as an injury time goal from Pedro silenced Celtic Park and won the game for the Rome side, in a game where Yang struggled to replicate the impact he had made on previous games in a hoops shirt.

Since that disappointing night at Paradise, the South Korean international has been resigned to the bench in the majority of games, being afforded minimal minutes on the park.

James Forrest has been favoured over the South Korean from the start and off the bench in recent games, no doubt down to the trust and faith Rodgers has in the Celtic stalwart.

Brendan Rodgers has been desperately looking for his attacking substitutions to make an impact in level games recently, with Forrest entrusted with doing so against Atletico Madrid and Hibernian.

Yang was given the responsibility of changing the game last night, and he delivered the exact impact Rodgers and the Celtic support were looking for as the Hoops chased a winner.

Direct running, skill and trickery are hallmarks of Yang’s game, such hallmarks were shown in abundance in his performance as he completed five successful dribbles, the most in the match.

Compare that to who started in his place, Forrest, who completed zero dribbles in his fifty-six minutes on the park. A player full of talent and positivity, Yang remains rather raw and must round up the rest of his game, in particular his decision making if he wants to become a starter at Celtic.

Only 21 years of age, such development will only come with patience and gameptime. Off the back off his impressive showing last night, he is certainly deserving of more of the latter and Brendan Rodgers must be looking at starting Yang at Ross County this weekend.

James French

Matt Corr’s new book Majic, Stan and the King of Japan is out now and Neil Lennon, the Celtic captain that season, has written the foreword for us.

You can get a signed copy of the hardback version direct from Celtic Star Books by clicking on the image below. It’s also available an an e-book via Amazon Kindle and please note that all colour photographs that appear in the beautifully presented printed hardback book are also available in the Kindle version of Majic, Stan and the King of Japan…