Wonderful to watch Yang prove his doubters wrong

Yang proving his doubters wrong…

Yang Hyun-Jun hasn’t had the best of starts to his Celtic career. He’s got the talent that’s never been in doubt, but his ability to do it consistently has been questioned on more than a few occasions. To be fair to the South Korean he’s adapting to life in a new country and a different level of football so it’s only natural he needs time to settle.

That hasn’t stopped the more critical element of our support being on his back, with some even writing him off completely. And it should be noted that Celtic’s recruitment team, who have taken so much stick of us all (myself included), will have every reason to have had a smile on their faces thinking ‘told you so’ as Yang gave perhaps the highest rated left back currently playing in the Scottish Premiership a torrid time of it, much to the delight of the Celtic support.

What an incredible personal standing ovation Yang was given when he was substituted and no-one could argue that it was not well deserved.

The criticism he’s received has now rescinded but it was on reflection absurd, but not surprising coming from some of our supporters unfortunately. Yang to his credit has focused on his football and had started to slowly win over the doubters until Fir Park and then last night where he was Man of the Match in a Celtic team full of top performers.

Yang was deemed good enough to be selected for the South Korean squad for the recent Asian cup. Poor players don’t get picked for a nation with so many talented footballers. He won rave reviews for the little time he had on the pitch during the competition. A well known Asian football correspondent was highly complementary of Yang’s talent and told the Celtic supporters they had a fantastic player on their hands.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather take the views of an expert on football in that part of the world, than the most critical element within our own support.

Yang was deservedly named Man of the Match in last night’s rout over Dundee. He was absolutely fantastic and showed everyone that he has the undoubted talent to become a fantastic footballer. Given who he was up against makes that performance even more noteworthy.  Owen Beck could have been playing for Celtic last night, he still might, but in his young career he’ll not have had a roasting like Yang delivered last night. And now he’ll know just how special a team he’ll be joining in the summer if he gets the move to Paradise.

The challenge is now for Yang to do it on a consistent basis, that’s pretty much the case with all wingers.  He still has a long way to go, and there will be bumps on the road in his journey, but he has all the makings to be a very special talent.

With Liel Abada reluctant to play for Celtic, and Brendan Rodgers signalling on Tuesday that the years are catching up with James Forrest, it’s an ideal time for Yang to make the right wing spot his own.

Talking of Brendan Rodgers, it looks like Alexandro Bernabei has paid the price for that awful defending for that sickening Kilmarnock equaliser. He’s nowhere to be seen in the squad again. That goal has probably made Brendan’s mind up on the player as a left back and you wonder what Rodgers will make of Beck getting roasted by Yang last night?  A new goalkeeper or two and a new left-back must be top of the manager’s priorities for the summer window.

Will Celtic still pursue Beck?  Boy shouldn’t be written off after last night because Yang was simply unplayable.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy