Celtic have work to do to get the very best out of Mika Baur when it truly counts. The Bhoys saw their summer signing produce a brilliant performance on Sunday as they returned to winning ways against Motherwell.
The Bhoys ended their run of three straight wins thanks to goals from Camilo Duran and Benjamin Nygren, but it was Baur who was the star of the show. Fresh from his first two appearances for the Germany national team, Baur put on a clinic in midfield, keeping Celtic ticking over throughout.
Baur barely put a foot wrong, and it was unquestionably his best performance for the club, and there have been some good performances up to now.
But we can't ignore the parity between Baur's performance against lesser and the better sides. Against the better sides, Baur is being drowned in the dirty work that is not his strength because the opposing midfield is stronger.
Baur appears to be a real talent, but Celtic have to find a way to get the best out of him in those best games. The Bhoys just aren't good enough to play against better teams and not have their best players standing out.
Callum McGregor looked better against Motherwell, which would have helped, but again, he is struggling against better sides, which may suggest the whole thing is simply a quality problem, but either way, it is Martin O'Neill's job to find solutions and find solutions he must.
Baur on his Motherwell display
Speaking to Celtic Player after Sunday's win over Motherwell, Baur said: “I’m very, very happy with the performance because it was a very important game today after how we finished the first period before the international break."
On his missed chances, he added: “I had, I think, two in the first half. One or two in the second as well. “That’s on me to score there, absolutely. But, yeah, I think that will happen in the next game, so again just stay calm and be in the situations, be there to have the situations, have the shots on target, and then hopefully in the next games I will score again.
“The score could be 3-0 or 4-0 maybe at the end. But it’s not always that easy. The goalkeeper was really good as well. But it’s a performance to build on, absolutely. “That’s a good start after the international break. And we have a lot of games now to just keep improving in the coming weeks.”
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