adminCamilo Duran and Celtic’s attacking line were unable to cause the Gers defence any genuine difficulties on Sunday as the Hoops were knocked out of the Premier Sports Cup.
Camilo Duran looked as though he had something ‘playing on his mind’ during Celtic’s heavy 3-0 defeat to Rangers in Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final.
That is the view of pundit Michael Stewart, who believes the Colombian may not have been particularly happy about being shifted back into a wide role by Martin O’Neill.
The 24-year-old has made an immediate impact at Parkhead since his £6million move from Qarabag, scoring six goals and providing three assists in his opening 10 appearances for the Hoops across all competitions.
Since the £12million arrival of Kasper Hogh, Duran has largely been deployed in a wide attacking position for Celtic.
However, with the Denmark international sidelined for the recent wins against Falkirk, Aberdeen and St Mirren, Duran was given the central role and responded with three goals and two assists during that spell.
The energetic attacker moved back to the right flank at the weekend as the Hoops were comfortably beaten at Ibrox, and former Hearts, Hibs and Scotland midfielder Stewart feels Duran looked as though the positional change was affecting him.
Speaking on the Premier Sports Scottish Football Social Club, he said: “Kasper Hogh has now had a number of games where he has looked off it, and in big games (too).
“Then you’ve got Duran. Initially when he was playing off that right hand side, he looked lively, energised and really good. But to me on Sunday, it looked like the fact he was not playing through the middle was playing on his mind a little bit.
“From Celtic’s perspective, that dynamic is now not as certain as it looked a few weeks ago. They are trying to find out how you get all of that together.
“(Haissem) Hassan looks like a guy you are going to start but now it’s a case of ‘what side are you playing Hassan on? Where is Duran going to play and is Kasper Hogh going to be the guy to lead the line?
Record Sport columnist Chris Sutton labelled Celtic as flat-track bullies on Sunday, while Stewart believes much of that weakness can be traced to their struggles in the middle third of the field.
“The physicality in (Celtic’s midfield) is a big one”, he continued. “It was the second big game after LASK that Celtic have been overrun.
“I mentioned it after the LASK game but if Arne Engels had been playing in that, I don’t think Celtic would have crumbled like that.
“His physicality and athleticism helped Callum McGregor and without him, it causes the concern where teams are able to bully Celtic.
“That was, to a large extent, what was happening there (at Ibrox) yesterday.
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