Oh Hyeon-gyu double bookends Celtic win; Yang Hyun-jun feels Rodgers' wrath

Football

Published: 07 Dec. 2023, 09:30 Updated: 07 Dec. 2023, 17:43

Oh Hyeon-gyu double bookends Celtic win; Yang Hyun-jun feels Rodgers' wrath

Oh Hyeon-gyu celebrates in a photo shared by the official Celtic on X on Wednesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Oh Hyeon-gyu scored a brace in his return to the Celtic starting lineup Wednesday, bookending a 4-1 win over Hibernian at home in Glasgow.

Oh was quick to make his mark at Celtic Park, nudging a Cameron Carter-Vickers header into the goal just five minutes into the game.

Matt O’Riley added another for Celtic just past the half hour mark to put the home side up 2-0 going into the break, with Luis Palma converting a penalty in the 51st to extend the lead.

Oh struck again four minutes later, making it 4-0 shortly before being taken off for Kyogo Furuhashi. Hibs got one back in the 72nd, but the damage was already well and truly done.

Wednesday’s goals were No. 4 and 5 for Oh, who missed the opening games of the season with an injury but has made an appearance in every fixture since Sept. 3. Four of those five goals came in two games — two against Aberdeen on Nov. 12 and two against Hibs — and all of them in the last two months.

But despite being a permanent fixture, time on the pitch is as hard for Oh to secure under Brendan Rodgers this season as it was under Ange Postecoglou last season.

Only two of his 13 appearances this season have been starts — last season he managed one in 11 games — and some substitutions come so late it’s hardly worth tying his laces: Against Kilmarnock on Oct. 7, Oh was on for just two minutes.

Wednesday’s game was a chance for Oh to stake his claim for a more prominent role, and he certainly seemed to understand that assignment.

It’s going to be an uphill fight for Oh, who will undoubtedly continue to play second fiddle to 2022-23 Golden Boot winner Furuhashi, but with just one goal separating them in fifth and seventh on the Scottish Premiership standing this year, Rodgers may be tempted to opt for the Korean midfielder more often.

“I thought Oh was excellent, particularly up front he was a good reference point for the team and I am delighted with him,” Rodgers said after the game. “He is definitely playing with confidence. I think the key was the pass forward from Callum [McGregor]. That was penetrating and it got us in behind and like you say Oh shows his strength as he comes inside and it is a really good finish.

“He is training really well and when he is playing he is very effective.”

But while it was a good night in Glasgow for Oh, Korean teammate Yang Hyun-jun did not even get a spot on the bench.

Yang, who joined Celtic over the summer, has been enjoying more exposure than his more experienced teammate. In 13 appearances this season, Yang has started seven times and clocked up 574 minutes on the pitch, significantly more than Oh’s 395 minutes.

Celtic's Yang Hyeon-jun reacts during a UEFA Champions League match against Lazio at the Olympic Stadium in Rome on Nov. 28. [AFP/YONHAP]

But that much playing time has also left him open to more criticism, particularly after an unimpressive first half against St. Johnstone over the weekend that Rodgers said made him angrier than he had ever been as a manager.

Celtic went on to win that game 3-1 after going 1-0 down in the first half. Tellingly, Yang was the only player substituted during the break.

Speaking after that game, Rodgers made it very clear just how disappointed he was.

“I’m still angry, if I’m honest,” he said. “The first half was nowhere near what you expect from a Celtic player and team. Just the level of intensity and ambition in the game, the speed, we were absolutely nowhere near it.

“People who have been around me will know I’m normally very calm. It was nothing tactical — this was about desire and what it takes to play for this club. Thankfully in the second half the players were brilliant.”

Although he avoided naming Yang specifically, the Korean midfielder’s early departure Sunday and his exclusion from the squad for the first time in his career on Wednesday tell a very clear story.

Celtic will be back in action Sunday as they take on Kilmarnock on the road. While Oh is likely to see at least some playing time, it remains unclear whether Yang will still be out in the Scottish cold or Rodgers will consider his time served.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]