Celtic proved why they are champions after another deserving win in the Premiership.
It would have been an enjoyable Christmas for those in Celtic colours. Sitting at the top of the table, League Cup trophy in hand and heading towards knockout football in the Champions League.
It took time to get going, but eventually Celtic outclassed Motherwell on Boxing Day to move 12 points clear at the top of the table, before Rangers’ trip to St Mirren.
Arne Engels opened the scoring via the penalty spot, before Daizen Maeda scored again, whilst Nicolas Kuhn and Reo Hatate helped themselves to goals from the bench.
Brendan Rodgers made more changes to the XI, after Celtic’s drab draw against Dundee United, with key personnel returning after illness, injury, and then pure rotation.
One of them included Cameron Carter-Vickers, whilst Adam Idah started up front and Kyogo Furuhashi was benched.
Brendan Rodgers wasn’t impressed by Adam Idah as Celtic beat Motherwell
Celtic paid big money for Idah in the summer, but he is still trying to earn those regular starts, with Kyogo being the main guy.
There were moments against Motherwell where he was lively, but in the end, he failed to put the ball into the back of the net.
Pat Bonner stated that, just as the Republic of Ireland international was going off, Rodgers showcased that he wasn’t impressed by what he was seeing from his striker, as he told BBC Radio Scotland.
“I don’t think Brendan Rodgers is impressed there with Adam Idah,” said Bonner. “He gave the ball away on the edge of the Motherwell defence.
“When you can go to the bench and you can bring on three players who would be normally starters, then you are probably right in your explanation about it going up a standard.
“Brendan has been able to get some of these players some game time, which is important and assess them. Adam Idah also coming off. Yang coming off. Bernardo, the other one. The other three coming on, they certainly wouldn’t drop the intensity. They certainly maybe increase it.
Idah’s stats for Celtic against Motherwell
This was Idah’s seventh start this season – after making 13 appearances from the bench and he couldn’t add to his six-goal tally.
There is talk of Celtic wanting to bring in another striker in January and you wonder what happens with Idah’s playing time, if that happens.
Either way, in his latest showing, the former Norwich City man was handed a rating of 6.58 by WhoScored.
