Celtic fans were left rightfully disappointed as the club could manage only a goalless draw away at Easter Road against Hibernian. Not only was the result disappointing but the performance as well. In fact, the Hoops have appeared to struggle for the past few games and their last good display was in the game against Aberdeen. Fortunately for them, the Rangers ended up dropping points as well, as they drew against Motherwell.
That keeps the gap between the two Glasgow giants at three points but, at the same time, Celtic should be worried about their own performance against Hibernian.
It did feel like they were missing something going forward, as they could not break down the Hibernian defence. With Giorgos Giakoumakis out of the squad, Ange Postecoglou’s side appeared to feel the lack of a focal point up top.
Interestingly though, Postecoglou feels that Giakoumakis would not have made much of a difference even if he would have played on the day away at Easter Road. As reported by the Daily Record, the manager said:
"“I don’t think we missed him.“Giako wasn’t going to make us play any better than we did. We played well enough, we just weren’t able to score a goal.”"
Postecoglou feels Celtic did not miss Giakoumakis against Hibernian
Giakoumakis has been a very important part of this Celtic team recently, especially with Kyogo out of action due to a long-term injury.
Daizen Maeda might have arrived with a lot of expectations after topping the J1 League scoring charts last year but right now, he does not look ready to lead the Celtic line on his own.
Thus, they could definitely do with the Greek striker as soon as he is available once again, because Maeda has not impressed when he has played through the middle for Celtic till now.
It is early days for him at Celtic and he deserves time to settle into his new surroundings and teammates. But at the moment, Giakoumakis does look like the best option that the Hoops have going forward.