Renowned Scottish football pundit Michael Stewart thinks Celtic winger Luis Palma is low on confidence after a disappointing cameo in yesterday afternoon’s goalless draw with Dundee United.
It was a lacklustre display from the Hoops, who failed to test Jack Walton in the United goal.
Other than second-half opportunities for Kyogo Furuhashi and Arne Engels, Brendan Rodgers’ men didn’t conjure up much on a poor afternoon in the northeast.
The manager was light in options due to injury and illness, which was no more apparent than when he introduced Palma with half an hour to go.
It was the winger’s eighth appearance of the season, and post-match, understandably, the outspoken Stewart was heavily critical of him: “You can tell Luis Palma is low on confidence,” he said (Sportscene via RecordSport).
“The moments when it does go wide you need your wide man to drop his shoulder, beat the full-back and get into those areas close to the byline. Celtic, not just Palma, all across the team didn’t get to those areas as often as they would have wanted.”
Palma consistently received the ball on the left-hand side as the game entered its final third, but he always seemed to cut inside or play a backwards pass.
He failed to do much, if anything, effective, and Stewart reckons United right-back Ryan Strain had him in his pocket.
He said: “He’s had Luis Palma on the park and it felt to me that Ryan Strain had his number a little bit.”
Although James Forrest and Nicolas Kuhn remain out injured, with January looming, surely the best solution to Palma’s predicament is to find him a new home away from Celtic.
He looks devoid of confidence and never appears threatening when he plays.
The fans will back him all the way, but one struggles to see when a potential rejuvenation may develop.
