Celtic player is the biggest reason behind this season’s collapse

There have been many factors behind Celtic’s struggles this season but the absence of one player might very well be the biggest.

He might not be the answer to all of Celtic’s woes this season, but it is undeniable that the club’s terrible run of form coincided with James Forrest getting injured.

Any player who scores regularly will be missed if unavailable. If it’s one like Forrest, who contributes as many assists as goals, then it doubles that impact. Through the course of his career, the winger has contributed to a goal for Celtic once every 162 minutes. Remarkable!

It is safe to say he has had a huge impact on the club and has an enormous haul of winners medals to show for it, including being part of the entire 9IAR campaign.

Celtic have lacked a spark up front at times. They’ve lacked width and the inability to get a decent ball into their forwards. They’ve missed crosses from wide, the ability to cut inside and link up with other players. In effect they’ve lacked what Forrest can provide.

The player does take some criticism from the fans on a regular basis but even the most critical will recognise the gap Forrest has left. He was injured playing in a Europa League qualifier against Riga way back in September. His injury uncovered a minor stress fracture leading to an ankle operation and he has been out of action since.

There were hopes that Forrest would be back by the year end and available for the game at Ibrox. Then in mid December, as the Glasgow Times reported at the time, Neil Lennon revealed the player had only just come off his crutches and would be out for a few weeks more:

"“He is coming off the crutches at the weekend which is a step in the right direction.“We are probably looking at the end of January. By then we will have an idea of where he is.”"

Forrest is one of the many pieces of the jigsaw that haven’t fallen into place this season. None are the single overriding reason for the problems the team have struggled with, but the Celtic veteran has definitely been a significant miss for the club and Lennon in planning his formation and line up.

Forrest’s goals, assists and interplay could well have made a significant difference to some games where the Hoops couldn’t seem to break through packed defences. And he’d have been on the team sheet for Ibrox for sure.