Reo Hatate is looking a little off form at the moment

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The Celtic Star

·16 de septiembre de 2024

Reo Hatate is looking a little off form at the moment

Reo Hatate is looking a little off form. Perhaps it’s time for him to start on the bench on Wednesday night?

Reo Hatate, Callum McGregor and Arne Engels in discussion on who should take the penalty. Celtic v Hearts, Celtic Park, 14 September 2024 Photo Robert Perry/Shutterstock

Reo Hatate is a player I admire very much. He’s got talent in abundance and brings an extra dimension to our midfield in terms of creativity, especially in the SPFL where sides try to smoother us on a weekly basis.

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Reo can prove to be the difference with just one pass or strike, he’s a proven match winner who is well worth his place in the team, but questions have recently started to be asked of his place in the starting XI, especially with the signings of Arne Engels and Luke McCowan.

Arne Engels of Celtic celebrates with his manager Brendan Rodgers after he scores his team’s opening goal during the match between Celtic and Hearts at Celtic Park on September 14, 2024 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Reo again put in a lacklustre performance against Hearts. He looked a little off form as he did against theRangers, although as far as Saturday’s game goes, it could be that the travelling involved in international duty with Japan could have had an affect, as Daizen Maeda also looked a little jaded against Hearts.

But with Arne Engels looking assured, and Luke McCowan also looking lively off the bench, as well as the form of Paulo Bernardo, Brendan has plenty of options to choose from going into Wednesday nights clash with Slovan Bratislava.

For me a middle three of Callum McGregor, Paulo Bernardo and Arne Engels would give us a more solid base against a well drilled opponent in Slovan. We could always call on Reo should we need to, so maybe a spell on the bench would be ideal for Reo at this moment in time, starting on Wednesday night?

It’s a tough call but one that Brendan Rodgers will have no problem one way of the other regarding his midfield trio to start in the Champions League.

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