Last season, Celtic reached the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in 12 years, agonisingly ousted by Bayern Munich, but now their hopes of Europa League progression are already in the balance.
After two league phase fixtures, Brendan Rodgers’ side have just a solitary point on the board, with Kelechi Iheanacho on target during a 1-1 draw with Crvena zvezda in Belgrade, before Braga prevailed 2-0 at Parkhead eight days later.
On Thursday night, Austrian champions Sturm Graz will be the latest visitors to Glasgow’s East End, fresh from beating Rangers 2-1 at Liebenauer Stadium earlier this month.
After this, the Celts’ remaining fixtures at Midtjylland (A), Feyenoord (A), Roma (H), Bologna (A) and Utrecht (H), none of which will be easy, underlining the importance of getting their European campaign up and running against die Schwoazn.
If the Hoops are to claim a first European win of the season, at the fifth attempt, Rodgers must make changes to his attack.
Why Yang Hyun-jun needs to be dropped
On Sunday, Celtic suffered their first domestic defeat of the season, beaten 2-0 by Dundee at Dens Park, both goals coming in the first 45.
Thus, at half-time, a clearly frustrated Rodgers made a double substitution, one which saw Yang Hyun-jun replaced by James Forrest.
The South Korean international registered just 25 touches and attempted zero dribbles, leading to Chris Sutton, speaking during Sky Sports’ coverage at the break, exclaiming “just get him off”, asserting that he’d offered absolutely nothing.
In total, since arriving from Gangwon FC in July 2023, Yang has scored just eight goals and accumulated only nine assists in 74 Celtic appearances, his sole strike of this season coming against Partick Thistle in the League Cup at Firhill.
With star attacker Daizen Maeda still sidelined, there is a void to fill in the Celtic forward line, but Rodgers must look elsewhere and make a change on Thursday night.
Rodgers must start Celtic's "terrific talent" vs Sturm Graz
As mentioned, it was Forrest who replaced Yang at the interval at Dens, with Michel-Ange Balikwisha not introduced until the 64th minute.
Despite limited minutes, he registered a shot on target and accumulated 20 touches, only one fewer than Iheanacho, who played the full 90 minutes, showing glimpses of what he’s capable of so far, certainly enough to warrant a start.
During his time at previous club Royal Antwerp, Balikwisha scored 30 goals and registered 17 assists in 145 games, at his best during the 2023/24 Jupiler Pro League season, his most recent campaign blighted by injuries, as the table below documents.
Goals
7
25th
Assists
6
13th
Progressive carries
85
10th
Shot-creating actions
69
30th
Goal-creating actions
10
13th
Big chances created
6
40th
Key passes
51
20th
Accurate crosses
33
18th
As the statistics outline, Balikwisha is a high-volume dribbler who is also capable of producing end-product, highlighted by the fact he ranked highly when it came to goal-creating actions, key passes and accurate crosses in the Belgian top-flight.
Journalist António Mango was certainly impressed, labelling him a “terrific talent”, while former Celtic player and manager Neil Lennon is “looking forward to seeing” what he can produce, optimistic he could be the club’s next “really good winger”.
Meantime, upon his arrival in Glasgow, Rodgers described him as a “really talented, exciting player” who “will be an important player for us moving forward”, noting that he “can play both sides of the pitch”, which makes him extra useful.
So, ahead of a pivotal fortnight of fixtures, in the absence of Maeda, Iheanacho will be the first-choice centre-forward, while fellow new recruit Sebastian Tounekti has cemented his spot in the starting lineup, impressing since arriving from Hammarby.
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This leaves one position up for grabs and Balikwisha definitely deserves the opportunity to stake a claim, likely to get the nod on the right, with Yang and veteran Forrest the alternative options, so the Belgian surely has to be in the XI come Thursday’s must win match.
