Rodgers must drop Hatate to unleash Celtic’s impressive “game winner”

Celtic are back in action once again in the Scottish Premiership at lunchtime today as they prepare to travel away to Dundee United in the early kick-off.

Despite this being his fifth season in charge of the Hoops, over two spells, this is Brendan Rodgers’s first visit to Tannadice Park, and he will be hoping that it is a successful one.

The Premiership champions come into this match off the back of winning the League Cup at Hampden Park on penalties against Rangers last weekend.

Rodgers could look to make some alterations to the starting XI that lined up at the national stadium, including dropping Reo Hatate from the team.

Why Reo Hatate should be dropped

The Japan international was selected to start the final and lined up in midfield next to captain Callum McGregor and summer signing Paulo Bernardo.

Unfortunately, however, the experienced central midfielder failed to show the best version of himself at Hampden Park, as his performance was rewarded with a 6/10 player rating by the Daily Record, who wrote that he ‘struggled to exert himself’ in the game.

Football FanCast then published an article explaining why the Celtic star should be brutally ditched from the starting XI next time out, as his lacklustre play in the middle of the park has left him open to being dropped.

Hatate, who has only contributed with one goal and zero assists in his last nine appearances for club and country across all competitions, should now be taken out of the team after a disappointing showing in the final.

Removing the Japanese maestro from the starting XI will open the door for another player to step up, and Rodgers must unleash Luke McCowan from the start.

Why Luke McCowan should start for Celtic

The Scottish dynamo was ineligible to feature in the final, as he had played for Dundee in an earlier round, but should now return to the line-up after missing out completely last weekend.

Celtic signed the left-footed whiz, who was described as a “game winner” by Marvin Bartley, from Dundee in the summer transfer window as an experienced Premiership operator, and it has been a terrific piece of business to date.

McCowan has started two of the club’s last three league matches and contributed with one goal and three assists from the middle of the park – more goal contributions than Hatate has managed in his last nine outings for club and country.

As you can see in the table above, the Hoops star has been incredibly productive in the final third despite only starting half of his appearances in the division.

This speaks to the quality he can provide in the middle of the park as a plug-and-play star who does not need regular game time to be dropped into the team and expected to deliver.

Therefore, Rodgers must unleash McCowan from the start to provide an injection of attacking quality ahead of Hatate, who has struggled in that regard of late.