Celtic lost the Scottish Cup final to Aberdeen on penalties after a tough game that went to extra time. The Hoops missed two very important players, Jota and Reo Hatate, because of injury. Without them, Celtic struggled to play at their best, especially in extra time.
Earlier in the season, Celtic had a chance to improve the squad in January. This was important because Kyogo, had left the club to join Rennes. But Celtic did not sign a new striker to replace him.
This made the Hoops much weaker, especially in attack. It was clear in extra time, when there was no real threat from the bench. The same problem has been showing in recent months, with the odd surprise result showing how weak the squad depth really is
Celtic brought on Yang Hyun-Jun, Luke McCowan, Johnny Kenny, and Jeffrey Schlupp as substitutes. They worked hard but couldn’t create many chances or make a big difference. The Hoops missed the same attacking threat and experience that Jota and Hatate usually bring.
Because of this, the Hoops found it particularly difficult to break down Aberdeen’s defence. Even with fresh players coming on, the Hoops lost energy and could not score the winning goal before penalties.
In the penalty shootout, Celtic missed two penalties and had to rely on Alistair Johnston to take one, highlighting how important it is to have a strong squad with dangerous players ready on the bench.
Failing to sign a striker in January following Kyogo’s departure, combined with the absence of Jota and Hatate in the final, left Celtic with a noticeably weakened bench.
The loss of Matt O’Riley’s brilliant creativity, which has yet to be properly replaced, highlights a key area for improvement next season, especially as the midfield looked short of ideas to break down Aberdeen in Hatate’s absence.
This lack of depth made it significantly harder to maintain the momentum the Hoops showed in the first six months of the season. It has become clear that Brendan Rodgers needs to strengthen the squad in the coming months or risk facing the same challenges next season, as Celtic have dropped off significantly over the last six months.
